You’ve heard me talk about my sister’s walnut ranch in Chico, California…right? Every time I see her, I come home with boxes of walnuts, so I am always trying to think of new ways to use them in my cooking. She makes a wonderful walnut pesto, so I decided to have at it and make up my own recipe. By the way, this recipe is FAR superior with fresh walnuts–take the time to crack your own.
Walnut Pesto
2 cloves garlic
2 cups basil
1/2 cup walnut halves
3 TB grated Pecorino cheese
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup high quality olive oil
1/2 to 1 tsp sea salt
Place garlic cloves in food processor and pulse until garlic is chopped finely, about 30 seconds. Add basil, walnuts and Pecorino cheese and pulse until chopped. Add lemon juice, then with the food processor running on low, slowly pour olive oil in. Add salt to taste.
Fabulous over roasted veggies, pasta, or wonderful for dipping. Makes a great spread for panini as well.
PS-It occurred to me that you may prefer to toast your walnut before making them into pesto. If so, please spread halves over a baking sheet and pop in the oven at 300 for about 5 minutes–watch ‘em so they don’t burn.
The chickens love a stroll in the Walnut Grove!
Walnut haul down from the ranch ~ SCORE!!
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m new to pesto and haven’t made it using basil. BUT…I got a HUGE amount of cilantro at the Farmer’s Market a couple weeks ago and made pesto with pine nuts and also (for another batch) with walnuts. It is DELICIOUS. The recipe is similar to yours. I think the pecorino romano cheese I used was perfect with it. Can’t wait to try basil.
I love the idea of using cilantro–sounds wonderful and I’m thinking it would be great on fish tacos–yum!