I love love LOVE pesto. I spent 3 months in Canada during the ski season eating just pesto and pasta. Needless to say, I was packing quite a few more pounds than I am currently. The pesto I ate during that fateful winter was store bought, and was without a doubt the oiliest food that I have ever consumed. As I became more health conscious over the years, I faced a conundrum – I wanted to continue eating pesto but I did not want the extra fat that went with it. Hence I have developed my own homemade pesto that is still delicious but has a much lower oil and fat content than others.
Ingredients
- a generous bunch of fresh basil
- 2 tablespoons pine nuts
- 1/4 cup (60ml) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon parmesan cheese
- 2 garlic cloves
- a pinch of salt and freshly ground pepper
- a blender or food processor.
Cooking
1. Place the garlic and pine nuts in a blender / food processor and whizz until the nuts are crushed.
2. Add basil leaves and olive oil and whizz until combined and no leaves are visible. I use a blender and this process takes me around 5-10 minutes. It takes this long because of the small amount of oil used. I know that 1/4 of a cup of oil sounds like a lot, but trust me when I tell you that most pesto recipes use between 1/2 - 1 cup of oil!
3. Add parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to mixture. Whizz for a few seconds until combined.
Serve on pasta, crackers, or whatever suits your fancy. Store for one week maximum in a fridge.
x E
No comments:
Post a Comment