Nut-free Pesto

As a nut allergy gal, it used to make me really sad when I couldn’t eat pesto in restaurants or when pesto pasta was always a quick, cheap dinner my friends at university would make. 

It still does make me sad that I can’t have it when I’m eating out but I do have it all the time at home now! My nut-free pesto (which also happens to be vegan) is so quick and delicious.

I exclude the usual nuts (obviously) and I actually don’t put any cheese in it either. Firstly, because my boyfriend would refuse to eat anything with pesto in if it had cheese in, but also, I just don’t think it’s needed. It’s salty enough as it is and I can always add parmesan to whatever I’m making if it needs it.

I make it in batches in my mini Kenwood food processor and store it in the freezer so I can have it any time I want.

As you can see, I keep it in these little ice cube trays. I have two of them reserved for pesto as they do tend to stain quite green!

They’re so easy to use from frozen – you can either pop them out of the mould and add directly into things like bolognese or stews, or pop one or two in a bowl and defrost in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

Yay for pesto! Recipe is below.

Enjoy!

Grace x

Print Recipe

Nut-free Pesto

Author: gaiglesiasfernandez Cuisine: Italian Courses: Vegetarian Recipe Keys: G Gluten Free N Nut Free Edit S Sauces

Difficulty: Beginner Prep Time 10 mins Total Time 10 mins

Servings: 8

Best Season: Suitable throughout the year

Ingredients

Servings

• 90 g Basil leaves ((3 bunches))
• 2 Garlic cloves
• 230 ml Extra virgin olive oil (1/2 cup)
• 0.5 tbsp Flaked seat salt
• 1 tsp Black pepper

Instructions

1. First, add the garlic cloves into the food processor and pulse to chop small.

2. Then gradually add the basil leaves in batches. I add a little bit at a time because I use a mini food processor for pesto, but feel free to add it all at once if it fits.

3. Once the basil has decreased in size, start slowly drizzling in the olive oil with the food processor on a low speed. Add the salt and pepper at the end and give the food processor a few pulses to combine.

4. Serve immediately or if you’d like to store it, you can either store it in the fridge in an air-tight container for 4-5 days or put a little bit of pesto in ice cube trays and freeze. When you want to use the frozen pesto, either pop out and put directly into hot things and they will defrost, or defrost in a bowl in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

   

Keywords: nut-free