This is a five minute recipe that you’ll be able to use in lots of different ways – simply stirred into pasta, as a dip with tortilla chips or pretzels or mushed into a jacket potato with some tomatoes on top.
I use this with sunflower seeds as pine nuts are rather expensive. I’ve also used almonds and peanuts which work well. you can also use any kind of hard cheese. I’ve used Comte below but Parmesan will also work well.
Penne with Parsley Pesto and Courgettes
You’ll need
- Half a bunch of parsley – about 100g
- 2 garlic cloves
- 40g Comte
- 3 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 4-6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- salt and pepper to your taste
To make it
- Process all the ingredients except the salt in a Magimix or similar until they are evenly combined. If you don’t have a food processor, use a pestle and mortar starting with the garlic and parsley and then adding the cheese in a grated form with a little oil from time to time to pound it all together. It should be a thick paste.
- Transfer to a bowl and season to your taste. At this stage if you are making a dip you can also add more olive oil or a little yoghurt or crème fraiche to loosen.
You might also like…
- Roasted polenta with spinach-basil pesto (saffronandhoney.com)
- Kale Pesto (stephangcalizona.wordpress.com)
- Cauliflower pesto (ericsnaith.typepad.com)
I’ve entered this on Lavender and Lovage as part of Herbs on Saturday which is being hosted by Bangers and Mash.
I love parsley and think it’s often overlooked as an ingredient in its own right. I really like the idea of trying it as a pesto – thanks so much for sharing, and also for entering into this month’s Herbs on Saturday challenge!
Pleasure. Love entering the herb event Karen runs but usually forget to write up in time
This is JUST a lovely recipe thanks Urvashi and I have bookmarked it to make as I have lots of parsley that is still very robust, in the garden. Thanks so much for entering it into Herbs on Saturday! Karen
Thanks Karen. My parsley is all depleted now. It’s just too cold and I haven’t the time to look after it properly at the moment. I’ve been buying bunches very cheaply at our ethnic supermarkets!
I love this twist on pesto and also the choice of garnishes you have used to add some texture to the dish. What a good idea to use sunflower seeds, which I always have in the cupboard as I find pine nut very expensive and tend to treat them as a luxury. Great tip!
Thanks Laura. I tried with coriander but didn’t like the flavour. This works really well with a little watercress for more peppery taste. Spinach works well too