Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Posted by Candy 🍬 on
Sundried Tomato Pesto
Ingredients:
100g sun-dried tomatoes
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Small handful of pine nuts
Clove of garlic, finely chopped
Two sprigs of rosemary, the leaves finely chopped
Juice of one lemon
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Method:
Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a pot and pour boiling water on top of them. Leave for approximately 20 minutes to allow them to rehydrate (this has the effect of making them soft and pliable so they can be blitzed easily with the other ingredients).
Drain the water from the tomatoes and throw them into a deep bottomed bowl (very important so the contents don't come whizzing up into your face!
Add several generous glugs of olive oil, the pine nuts, chopped garlic, herbs and lemon juice. Blitz everything together with a hand-held blender.
Add the salt and pepper, tasting as you go along to ensure you don't go overboard with the seasoning.
Cover with a film of olive oil as this will help to preserve its freshness and longevity. Store in the fridge.
Notes
Nothing beats the taste of your own homemade pesto! (Well, alright then, lots of things beat it....but still, it's up there!)
Making your own also means you can be sure of exactly what has gone into it, as many shop-bought varieties can have sneakies such as refined sugar and flavourings.
It's a great go-to to have on standby in the fridge, livening up pasta, sambos, oven-roasted veggies, snacks on crackers etc.
It is a great way to get fresh rosemary into your diet without the taste being overpowering and bitter. Rosemary is reputed to be particularly good for the lungs and chest area.
If you don't have it handy in the garden, use any other fresh herb you have to hand such as chives, thyme or parsley. Of course, at this time of year (Spring! Yay!) you can also find wild garlic growing in abundance.
This can be used in the place of the suggested herbs or, indeed, you could let it take centre stage and make a wild garlic pesto, rather than a sun-dried tomato pesto. Simply replace the sun-dried tomatoes in the above recipe with three large handfuls of wild garlic and leave out the clove of garlic as it will be garlicky enough!
Equally, if you don't have pine nuts, then walnuts, almonds and cashews will be just fine too.
This recipe does not contain cheese. I prefer it like that. But, if you like, you could add some parmesan into the mix.
Ingredients from The Good Crop Company:
Sun-dried Tomatoes (100 gram pots)
Pine Nuts
Walnuts
Almonds
Cashews
Maldon Sea Salt
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