Since I’ve titled my food blog Avocado Pesto I’m making it a new priority to share more pesto recipes on here. I make different kinds of pesto all the time – usually just tossing handful and dashes of ingredients into the food processor. This time though, with pen and pad in hand I was ready to document both the ingredients and the quantities.
I didn’t start to fully appreciate pesto until college – when one of my roommates introduced me to the joys of home made pesto for the first time. Sure I had had it before – but only out of jar filled with who knows how many additives and preservatives and then simply tossed with pasta.
Little did I know there was a whole pesto world out there I was missing out on. Now I eat it with hard boiled eggs for breakfast, spread onto sandwiches for lunch and mixed in with chicken or seafood either baked on pan fried for dinner. The possibilities are endless. Never fear – for those of you who are dairy free or vegan this pesto doesn’t have a shred of animal products. For the cheese connoisseurs out there I promise with this pesto you won’t even miss the lack of Parmesan.
- ½ cup + 1-2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 2-3 ounces basil
- ½-1 ounce baby spinach (1 large handful)
- ½ cup walnuts
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- To food processor add all ingredients except for olive oil.
- Turn processor to high and add olive oil through feed chute in a slow steady stream. Start with ½ cup and add more olive oil until pesto reaches desired consistency.
This post has been shared on Allergy Free Wednesdays, Gluten Free Wednesdays and Slightly Indulgent Tuesdays
Welcome to Avocado Pesto! Long time foodie and travel enthusiast, I started this blog to share my curious culinary efforts and kitchen endeavors. Here you'll find a smorgasbord of ethnic cuisines and hopefully a few humorous tales too.
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Yum! I love pesto, and I love making variations on the traditional basil pesto. This looks great!
Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out recently posted..Pisto (Or: A lazy girl’s ratatouille)
Thanks! I recently made a sun-dried tomato basil pesto which is my new favorite, and I’ll be posting the recipe on the blog soon!
Yum, I love fresh pesto! I have a basil plant that’s out of control at home, so this looks like the perfect recipe for trimming it back. I saw your Lara Bars on TK…headed over to the recipe now to check them out!!
So jealous of your basil plant! I tried growing basil in a pot on my balcony but the area gets barely any sunlight so the plant just wilted away and died : / Hope you enjoy the larabars recipe!
How long can you store this pesto? I want to try making it over the weekend.
Erin Smith recently posted..Make Your Own Gluten-Free Pizza at this Delicious Dinner Party
I’m going to say you can refrigerate it and it should be good for 5-7 days (though it could keep for as many as 10 days – I just want to be on the safer side). I made my sun-dried tomato pesto last Thursday and just had some this morning and it tasted great. If you make a large batch and want to freeze some a good trick is to freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop the frozen cubes in a zip lock bag and just defrost them as needed. Hope you enjoy the pesto!
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