The prompt for today is to talk about our favourite herb or spice. I love using different herbs and spices and it’s always so hard to choose a “favourite”. But I decided this was a good time to use up my HUGE basil plant.
The above picture was a few weeks ago, it had grown even bigger! But it was starting to get a little overgrown, and basil season is almost over, so I decided to cut it all down and make pesto!
I used quite a lot of basil here because I had a lot, and the recipe probably made about four cups of pesto which is a lot considering you don’t use much in meals! I’ve put the extra in the freezer though – if you freeze it in individual portions you can just heat it through and use! But if you have less basil, just halve the recipe.
I made a pesto mashed potatoes with some of the pesto – just make your usual mashed potatoes, and stir through 2-3 tbsp pesto. It wasn’t very pretty though, although super tasty!
In my pesto recipe, I used walnuts instead of pine nuts. I love the taste walnuts give – and it also makes it a whole lot cheaper than the traditional pesto recipe!
Basil and Walnut Pesto
Ingredients
- 275g basil, washed
- 100g walnuts
- 2 tbsp nutritional yeast
- 125ml olive oil
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 100ml lemon juice
- Salt & Pepper
Directions
- Place all ingredients except the olive oil in your food processor.
- Set the processor running, and slowly pour in the olive oil through the top.
- Run the processor until the pesto is mostly smooth! Taste and season.
- Serve stirred through pasta, potatoes, on bread, however you like. Can be frozen.
Walks, Talks & Eats 