Saturday, August 30, 2008

another pesto recipe

I have discovered this summer that you really don't have to follow recipes very closely, unless you are baking, which is why I'm a lousy baker.  So today I experimented with pesto and made a good one.  It's a variation on my old recipe which is a variation on a cookbook recipe.

Ingredients:
3 cups packed basil
little less than 1/2 cup walnuts
2 Tbsp sunflower seeds.    The seeds and walnuts totals 1/2 cup.  oh, I should have tried the pumpkin seeds in my freezer---next time
2 Tbsp lemon juice (fresh squeezed)
a few mushroooms, say 1/4 cup?  I would have done more but didn't have that much
3 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp water
1/8 cup chives, something like that (optional)

Blend everything but the basil and water in a food processor.  not to a paste, just so it's all small pieces.  Add some of the basil and water, blend, add some more, blend etc until all the basil is mixed in.    Now everything in this recipe is optional except the basil and some nuts and lemon and garlic.   I liked the mushrooms though.  I think it could have used just a bit of sweetener.  maybe a date?  I'll try that next time.   Each batch I split into four small plastic containers.  so that would be only 1/4 date per container so I don't think it would be overpowering.  or maybe just a touch of maple syrup, 1 tsp?

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