Friday, April 23, 2010

Spinach Basil Pesto

Courtesy of AllRecipes.com
  • 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
  • 3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
  • 1/2 cup toasted almonds
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and quartered
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
  • extra-virgin olive oil as needed
Blend the spinach, basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, pepper, lemon juice and lemon zest in a food processor until nearly smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary. Add 1 tsp of olive oil per serving, and water as needed until pesto is the desired consistency.

Notes:
-- Original recipe called for 1/2 cup of olive oil.
-- Original recipes suggests freezing the pesto in ice cube trays so you can use it for single servings later. I just put blobs on a cookie sheet, put the in the freezer until the were solid, and the moved them to a plastic bag.

1 comment:

  1. Oooh. I like this idea of freezing it in "blobs" for individual serving. Thanks for the idea. I also can't wait to try out a pesto without so much (or any) oil!

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