Jul 012010
 

Those of us who let our parsley go to seed last autumn now have an overabundance of young fresh parsley. It is lush and green and smelling delicious. Much too nice for the compost heap but most of us really only use a few sprigs to flavor a sauce or casserole, or maybe use some in a stuffing or tabbouleh. So, what can you do with a whole lawn of it? Well, here is one tasty answer: parsley pesto. It uses quite a lot of parsley to make quite a small amount of pesto.

The following recipe is simple and can be adapted to include ingredients from your pantry. It is great as a dip with biscuits or raw vegetables, very tasty on pasta or pizza, in soup, on jacket potatoes, and goes well on bread as a butter substitute when making sandwiches.

Ingredients

2 cups parsley leaves
1 cup of pecan nuts
4 small cloves garlic
a little salt if desired
pepper
½ cup olive oil
½ cup parmesan cheese

Method

Process parsley, pecans, salt and garlic until almost smooth

With motor running, add oil in a slow steady stream and process to combine, scraping down sides occasionally as necessary.

Check the consistency and add a teaspoon or two of water if it is too dry and process to combine.

Transfer to a bowl, add parmesan and stir to combine. Add salt if required

Variations

Vary the amount and variety of nuts. Nothing is set in stone. So far I have tried almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts. I have also varied the amounts of garlic and parmesan.

Use a little more oil if you like.

It is quite tasty without cheese if you want dairy-free.

Storage

Store it in a covered jar in the fridge with a layer of oil over the top. It should keep for a few weeks. If you use part of the jar, just top up the oil coating and store as previously.

It freezes well with or without cheese. It tends to be a bit stiff when de-frosted – especially if it is frozen with cheese in it – so add a little oil or water or cider vinegar or lemon juice to soften if required.

Author

Pam Jenkins
Research

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