Lemon Parsley Almond Pesto
My mom made something like this for me years ago in Italy. It was so different from the delicious and popular Genovese-style, basil and pine nut pesto (which I love by the way). So fresh and vibrant with the lemony citrus tang, the nuttiness of the Almonds and the kick of fresh parsley. This week I noticed I had two bunches of flat leaf parsley, also known as Italian Parsley I could see were about to take a turn. In the spirit of being less wasteful and using what I have in my fridge I remembered the pesto and quickly texted my mom in Germany, asking her to remind me of the ingredients. Garlic, almonds, a lemon, olive oil and a little block of organic pecorino (sheeps) cheese from Pienza, Italy, (the region from where Pecorino hails).I usually those on hand, even in the best of times. I gave the parsley bunches an ice water bath for a couple of hours and then got to work in my mortar and pestle. So much fun getting my little boys involved, see my stories where I included them. You can of course make the pesto in a food processor but I really enjoyed the process of hand grinding and being really intimate with my ingredients. For vegans the cheese is optional. Still tastes amazing. Served on grilled or roasted vegetables, swirled into a vegetable soup or of course mixed into my favorite grain-free Italian style pasta by Cappellos one can’t go wrong. My measurements are below, but you can play around with measurements as well as the preparation. I went for more of a rustic look and consistency, some people like their pesto more smooth and creamy.
Makes about 3/4 of a cup pesto / about 150 grams / Prep time about 30 minutes (could be longer if you let your small children help) / Cook time 0 / Total time 30 minutes
Gather
2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
Generous pinch salt
2 small bunches about 2-2.5 cups of packed flat leaf parsley leaves (save the stems for Roasted Vegetable Stock, see previous post)
Zest of 1 medium lemon
1/3 cup raw almonds/ about 36 grams
1 tablespoon lemon juice/ half a lemon
3 tablespoons/ about 16 grams grated pecorino cheese (hard sheep’s milk cheese) OPTIONAL
1/3 cup/about 59 ml Olive Oil
Fresh cracked pepper to taste
Make
In your mortar add the garlic and salt, using your pestle, grind the garlic and salt into a paste. Working in small batches add the parsley leaves as you continue to grind the leaves into a pulp, once all the parsley has been added and ground down with the pestle (should take a good 6-7 minutes, add the lemon zest, then add the almonds. You may have to put in a little elbow grease as you grind down the almonds into little pieces, get out some aggression here, we all might be having right now.
Then add the lemon juice and continue grinding until desired consistency. Then add your olive oil and stir your pestle till blended. Pepper to taste. Transfer to an airtight container for two weeks or into ice cube trays for 4-6 weeks.
Note:
If you choose to do this in a food processor, add your first 4 ingredients into food processor and pulse until combined and parsley leaves are finely chopped, scrape down the sides with a spatula, then add almonds, lemon zest and process 25-30 seconds till almonds are finely chopped. Stop and scrape down the sides and add lemon juice and grated pecorino, pulse until well combined. Then with motor running slowly drizzle the olive oil into pesto until you have desired consistency. Stop the motor and stir in the pepper to taste.
Recipe developed by Anna Getty of Amalgam Kitchen.
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