Herb Pesto

March 13, 2010 by Celia @ Fig Jam and Lime Cordial

Traditionally made with basil, pinenuts, garlic and parmesan, pesto is now available in a multitude of different flavour combinations.

I’ve tried it with rocket, garlic scapes and sage in place of basil, almonds instead of pinenuts, and pecorino cheese instead of parmesan. All were delicious in their own unique way.

Our recent herb glut left us with an assortment of greens, so we decided to try a mixed herb pesto. It was a simple process – Pete gave the oregano a haircut, and I pinched off some lemon basil, purple basil and a couple of sage leaves – all of which were de-stemmed and rinsed.

These were then pulsed in the mini food processor with a single clove of garlic, pinenuts, parmesan and a little extra virgin olive oil. The mix was mostly oregano, which gave the pesto a very different flavour to the usual basil version.

I’ve stored the pesto in the fridge, covered with a little oil, but you could also freeze it in small ziplock bags (make sure you squeeze out as much air as possible). A great way to lock up a little bit of the garden for those cold winter months!

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Posted in Recipes | Tagged fresh oregano, garden herbs, herb pesto, mixed herb pesto, oregano pesto | 8 Comments

8 Responses

on March 13, 2010 at 8:51 am Kitchen Butterfly

I love pesto….and I always make it by hand (in a mortar and pestle), thanks to Jamie Oliver. I learnt from delicious days (the blog) the reason why pesto can be bitter if you use a lot of extra virgin olive oil and the food processor. (http://www.deliciousdays.com/archives/2009/03/06/pesto-looks-all-too-familiar-wait/)

I use grape-seed oil mostly……Love the herb combinations. One of my favourites is a sage pesto….and coriander. LOL. Enjoy the weekend
- on March 13, 2010 at 9:33 am figjamandlimecordial
  
  That IS interesting, thanks Oz. I don’t notice the bitterness, and I quite like it in my olive oils anyway. I too tried making it with a pestle and mortar a la Jamie, but gave up – it’s just too easy in the old food processor. I do think the pine nuts you use makes a difference – I don’t buy the Chinese ones anymore, and instead try and get either Spanish or Lebanese grown. They’ve got quite a different flavour!
  
  Thanks for the headsup on the sage pesto – since you mentioned it in an earlier post, we’ve been making it regularly – it’s very addictive! :)
on March 13, 2010 at 10:12 am Kristy @ ksayerphotography

Oh yum! I love pesto, my favourite at the moment has to be baby spinach pesto with parmesan, pine nuts, garlic and chilli.
But a mixed herb pesto sounds fantastic!
- on March 13, 2010 at 11:11 am figjamandlimecordial
  
  Baby spinach! That’s a new one to me, Kristy, thanks!
on March 13, 2010 at 6:29 pm foodwink

Thanks for sharing, Celia. I made basil pesto once but it wasn’t well received by The Engineer. I think I got the ratio between the pine nuts and the herbs wrong.

Will try out your recipe <3
on March 15, 2010 at 7:02 am Gillian

I must admit I am a pesto addict. It is such a simple condiment with kick! A usual lunch is: take a wrap, spread with pesto, mushrooms, onions, cheese and hey voila a pizza. My homemade stuff can be very strong sometimes and I blame the garlic.
on March 15, 2010 at 8:22 am Lorraine @NotQuiteNigella

Mmm what an aromatic bounty of herbs! I like mixing up the nuts too-macadamia makes a beautiful pesto. I used to buy it until as you said, I realised how easy it was to make :)
on March 17, 2010 at 3:09 pm Robyn

Just as I was wondering what to do with all my late summer basil/sage/oregano…Celia I will try out your pesto recipe tonight. The small ziplock bags sound like a good idea. Voila – instant pasta sauce!