For years I hated pesto. I hated it on toast, I hated it in pasta, I hated it the most. Oooh rhymes are fun!  I have no idea where this irrational hatred came from, it was something to do with the gritty texture of it or the taste of basil, I’ve never really been a huge fan of basil. Then I found this recipe and no joke, it changed my life. It’s fantastic for a lazy person like me because it uses all those leftover herby bits at the bottom of your crisper and turns them into something awesome. I always put it on the ham and salad rolls I make for fishing lunches and it wins me big wife points.  I don’t think its ever made a bad batch, even the times I swapped out the garlic for ginger or chilli just to see what it would taste like.

Ingredients

1 teaspoon minced garlic (or a chopped up clove)
1/4 cup nuts (Martha says to toast them, but I never bother)
3 cups herbs (packed tight)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated dry hard cheese (traditionally it’s parmesan, but I generally use tasty because it’s what we have available)
salt and pepper

Method

Put in a food processor and blend til it looks like pesto and has a thickish consistency.

Some combos I’ve made before
– Walnut, basil, mint
– spinach, pine nut, rocket and chilli
– dill, mint, almond
– basil, parsley, macadamia
– rosemary, coriander, cashew

It’s good as a spread on a sandwich, but really great tossed through pasta with some warm roast chicken.  The pasta dish fufills a very important criteria: it looks far more difficult than it actually is, especially when you tell people you made the pesto from scratch. Martha says it keeps for two days, but in my experience that can be a bit flexible depending on the age of the herbs.

Have you got a go-to recipe that looks far more difficult than it actually is?