Sunday, August 31, 2014

Mint & Almond Pesto

From StoneSoup.


Serve this pesto pretty much any where you’d serve regular pesto. Dollop on soups or salads. Use as a sauce for pan fried fish, chicken breasts or even steak. My personal favourite is to team it with lamb… Either lamb cutlets cooked until still rosy pink or slow roast lamb shoulder literally melting off the bone. It’s also great to liven up some steamed green beans or peas.
Enough for about 1 cup 
large bunch mint, leaves picked 
1 small clove garlic 
3 handfuls almonds 
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1. Whizz mint, garlic and almonds in a food processor until finely chopped.
2. Add oil and a little lemon juice and mix. Taste and season with salt, pepper and extra lemon if needed.

VARIATIONS 
summery – replace mint with basil. You can replace the almonds with pine nuts but I’m also a fan of cashews because they’re delicious and much more affordable.
nut-free – replace almonds with half soft breadcrumbs and half finely grated parmesan.
other herbs - flat leaf parsley, carrot tops, coriander (cilantro) are all possibilities. I’m also a fan of a little bit or sage or oregano combined with parsley.
garlic-free – sometimes I can’t be bothered with garlic and it’s still lovely but I do find it needs more salt and lemon to make up for that garlicky sharpness.
no food processor – just finely chop everything and stir together for a more rustic chunky pesto.



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