Tasty Bites: Toasted Walnut Pesto

By Candy, RN (Steele the Day)

Have you ever bought fresh basil at the grocery store, or even at a Farmer’s Market? If you have, you know how pricey it can be. Last spring I purchased 4 tiny basil plants for 59 cents at our local grocery store’s garden display. They were pathetic plants, but there’s something purposeful about resurrecting the near dead. (I also bought cilantro, which was brown and buried about a week later).

The result of my meager purchase was so much basil, I can’t even give enough away. I put it in salads and pasta sauce, but the more I trim it, the faster it grows. I was seeing pesto in my future. One trip to the grocery store to purchase pine nuts sent me into shock – they were almost $15 a pound! Undaunted, I turned to trusty Google and found recipes for pesto with walnuts, combined a couple of the recipes, and here’s what I came up with. (Yes, all measurements are estimated. You really can’t go wrong). I really loved the extra-nutty flavor the walnuts provided here, and may never go back to pine nuts. Use as many of the tops of the plants as you can; those leaves are more tender and sweet.

Pesto makes a great sandwich spread or tossed with warm pasta. You can use it as a vegetable dip, a marinade for chicken or fish, or throw a dollop on a salad. Spread it on French bread or use on pizza in place of regular pizza sauce. The possibilities are endless! I freeze it in zip lock bags, but you can also use regular containers or ice cube trays. There’s nothing like fresh pesto on a winter vegetable!

Basil is an excellent source of vitamins and minerals, just like any other leafy green. In this picture, I cooked some black pepper fettuccine and tossed it with fresh chopped tomatoes, leftover shredded chicken, and topped with fresh grated asiago cheese.

Toasted Walnut Pesto

2-3 cups packed, fresh basil leaves

2 cloves garlic, rough chop

½ cup chopped walnuts

¾ cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

About ¼ cup olive oil

1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice (prevents browning)

Sea salt and pepper

Toast walnuts for 10 min in 350° oven. Let cool, chop. Place walnuts in food processor and pulse until fairly fine. Add garlic and basil, pulse to combine. Slowly stream in olive oil and blend until mixture is the consistency of paste. Add more or less depending on how thick you like it. Add cheese and lemon juice, and continue blending until smooth. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Candy Steele is a registered nurse who has worked with cardiac patients for over thirty years. “Functional foods” have become her passion, and she enjoys sharing her love of cooking, a random life and a faithful Jesus with her friends at Steele (the Day). She is blessed with three grown children, a new daughter-in-law, and a kind and patient husband who only knows how to fix popcorn (but she’s OK with that).