sunflower

16 June 2015

Welcome friends. I hope it is summer wherever you are. We have not had much summer weather in Chicago. Whenever I look at this sunflower image, I feel like I am staring summer in the face. I have summer on my mind and that is why I want to share my walnut pesto recipe. I love basil. I look forward to it every summer. I've already shared my basil pesto recipe. I make walnut pesto before the basil shows up at the farmer's market, because it requires less basil. I also make this recipe in August because fresh basil turns brown quicker at the end of summer.

I started making walnut pesto a few years ago when I saw a recipe in Michael Chiarello's Casual Cooking. This is a fantastic cookbook that I think everyone should own. It has a lot of great recipes that are easy to follow. It also has beautiful photographs and useful tips. His recipe uses ricotta with the walnuts, but the walnuts always turned the pesto brown. I started soaking the walnuts in boiling water to keep the pesto from turning brown.

I updated my recipe after seeing a feature on pesto in Saveur magazine. Their walnut pesto recipe added sun dried tomatoes, and combined pecorino and parmesan. I had already been using these two cheeses to make my basil pesto and decided to use them again with my walnut pesto. The sun dried tomatoes add a whole new dimension to the sauce. I like to use the sun dried tomatoes that are packed in oil. I think the dry packaged sun dried tomatoes are tough and a bit tart.

I like to add this pesto to cooked brown rice. I add about a tablespoon per cup of cooked rice. I also like to combine equal parts of walnut pesto and ricotta and use it as a spread or a sauce for pasta salad. I combine the pesto and ricotta when I am ready to use them and stir together 2 tablespoons of each. This sauce will last, refrigerated, for about three weeks.

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Walnut Pesto

20 min. soak time | 20 min. prep time

walnut pesto with summer vegetables

Ingredients

makes about 3/4 cup

  • 1/2 cup walnut pieces
  • 1 1/2 cups of basil leaves, packed
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 sun dried tomatoes (4 halves), packed in oil, drained
  • 1 Tbl fresh lemon juice
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated fine
  • 1/4 cup pecorino romano, grated fine

Directions

place the walnuts in a heat-proof bowl and cover them with boiling water. Let them soak for 20 minutes. Drain the walnuts and set aside.

place the basil leaves in a food processor fitted with a blade attachment. Process the leaves until they are chopped fine, about 10 seconds.

add the nuts, salt, olive oil, dried tomatoes, lemon juice, and garlic. Process for about 10 seconds. Stir down the sides of the container and process for another 3 intervals of 10 seconds.

add the cheeses and process for 2 more intervals of 10 seconds, pausing to scrape down the sides of the container.

place the pesto in an air-tight container and cover the top with plastic. Store in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.