If you shop at your farmer’s market, one of the best items to pick up is a bunch of parsley or basil – not only are they great to use in focaccia bread or soups, but also to make an easy pesto.
Pesto is the food that will save the day in our house – it takes just minutes to whip up, and it can refrigerate or freeze beautifully for weeks at a time. Running late on dinner? Just boil up a pot of pasta and mix in the pesto for pesto pasta night. It’s such an easy way to get your greens and switch things up.
This pesto pasta wasn’t planned ~ I intended to make white bean and kale soup, and I was too busy chatting while I was making food and put Peruvian beans in the instant pot (they look almost identical). Forty five minutes later when I cracked open the instant pot, I said “wow – that smells like … peruvian beans”..
Oh that’s because they were 😉
… then …
Gosh….. what a mess up… what do I do at this point? Everyone is hungry, and I’m obviously not good at multitasking so let me determine what I can make quickly.
After a quick peek in the fridge… aha! It’s pesto. Pesto with lemons – I’ll roll it in some pasta.
So I quickly threw together pesto pasta so the family could eat .. and had enough for leftovers for work for the next day – win win!
- 1 bunch parsley
- 1/3 - 1/2 C. extra virgin olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/2 C. pine nuts
- 1 tsp salt (or more to taste)
- In the food processor, combine the parsley, oil, garlic, pine nuts and salt and process until well blended.
- Scrape down the sides, and continue to pulse.
- Test - add salt or more oil as needed.
- Store in covered glass jar, with a dollop of oil on the top to keep the pesto nice and fresh/moist.
- Pesto can be stored in the refrigerator for several weeks, or frozen in ice cube trays and turned out into a gallon hefty zip bag for several months. Use in pasta, focaccia bread or as a dip for pita bread.
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