Homemade Pesto recipes

I love pesto sauce not only using for pasta but also for spreading on the toasted slice of bread. Instead of butter or mayo spread it's more healthier and delicious. Generally well suits with tomato, grilled aubergine, courgette slices or cheese or salami slices. Normally you can create your very bespoke pesto sauce with any kind of fresh herbs such as basil, coriander, parsley, rocket and nuts/seeds(pumpkin, sunflower) mixes. 

Yesterday I have prepared couple of different pesto recipes which I am going to share here:

1. Coriander and Pine nuts Pesto:

• a bunch of coriander
• 100 gr pine nuts
• 50 ml olive oil
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

Chop off the stalk of the coriander. Wash and drain then put in the blender with olive oil. Mix well. Then add pine nuts and blend for another 3-4 minutes. If you prefer the nuts more chunky still 2-3 minutes mixing will be enough. Add the seasoning and mix for a 1-2 minute. Then your homemade Coriander and Pine nuts Pesto is ready to use. 

2. Parsley and Pumpkin Seeds Pesto

• a bunch of Parsley
• 100 gr pumpkin seeds
• 50ml olive oil
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper 

Similar process like previous recipe. Chop off the stalk of the parsley. After washing and drain it put into blender with olive oil. Mix until it became a paste. Then add the pumpkin seeds and blend together for a 3-4 minutes. Add the seasoning. You might add a bit of extra olive oil if the paste seems a bit dry. Now the sauce is ready to use it.

3. Roasted Red Peppers and Cashew nuts Pesto 

• 200-300gr Roasted Red peppers
• 100gr cashew nuts
• 50ml olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chilly flakes
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper

I used ready roasted red peppers but if you are not having ready to use then you have to roast the peppers in the oven for about 25-30 mins at 250C. Then take the skin and the seeds off the pepper. put in the blender add olive oil, chilly flakes then blend for 3 minutes. Then add cashew nuts with seasoning and mix another 3-4 minutes. Depends on your palate you can add more chilly or seasoning for strong flavour. 

All the sauces should keep in airtight jar and in the fridge. As long as the jar is tightly closed the sauces can be used up to a month or two. Here are mine sauces ready to use :-)

 Bon appetit!

Chef Tulay :-)