Waste Not Seasonal Pesto
Words and photography by Veerle Evens
www.instagram.com/veerleevensphotography
This recipe was originally born to save garden-grown rocket which had grown fast after a sunny spell. The leaves had become slightly too peppery to eat as a salad, but suitable for a fabulous pesto. The beauty of this recipe is that almost every ingredient can be replaced, to use what we have to hand in the fridge or garden, minimising waste. The perfect way to give sad looking leaves or herbs a second life. Spread it on a piece of toast, stir into pasta, add to a salad or mix with butter beans are a few options.
Ingredients:
2 large handfuls of leaves or herbs (rocket used)
4 TBSP oil (olive used)
50 grams of seeds (pumpkin and sunflower used)
1 large clove of garlic (optional)
50 grams of grated parmesan (for vegan, use cheese alternative or nutritional yeast)
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Method:
Place the leaves, seeds and garlic in the food processor and whiz to a rough paste.
Stir through the parmesan and olive oil, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Feel free to add a bit more or less oil, to create the consistency you like. If not using straight away, store it in a glass jar (optional, top with a layer of olive oil to keep it fresh). Store in the fridge for a couple of days.
Alternatives:
Leaves or herbs – any soft green herb such as coriander, dill, basil, parsley or watercress for example. Tougher leaves such as kale can be used too but these are better blanched in hot water first to soften.
Oil – olive, avocado, pumpkin or walnut are all suitable.
Seeds – pumpkin, sunflower and sesame are suitable although others could work too, or pine nuts which are traditionally used in pesto.
Cheese – parmesan, percorino, aged cheddar and aged manchego are all suitable. Vegan alternatives are non-dairy cheese or nutritional yeast.