Quick Pesto

Photo © Rob Jones

Cooking for me is one third crisis, one third lust and one third relaxation.

If I am working intensely, there is nothing better than taking some downtime in the kitchen, whipping up something quick and easy and tasty before getting nose to the grindstone again.

The lust part is my inner glutton, which needs to be fed but denied in equal measure.

The crisis comes about because I am eternally over buying, or as a singleton, buying too big a quantity of an ingredient.

I had a spot of crisis management this morning when I discovered some basil that was beyond fresh, but pre-chuck.

Quick Pesto Sauce, I thought!

Toast off 50g of Pine Nuts and then put into the blender.

Add together with 100g of Basil Leaves

50g of Parmesan or similar

150ml of Olive Oil

2 cloves of garlic.

A good whizz to get it all nicely mixed together.

That’s it.

Served up almost as a Salad Tricolore on a seedy crispbread base - for breakfast! Cucumber is non-essential, just used it for the photo and because it was also post-best/pre-chuck.

Next time you need a shock - read the ingredients on your shop-bought pesto jar. (Carrot, Potato, Cashew, Bamboo and ‘Vegetable Fibre’.)

There’s a WHICH report makes interesting reading.

Why make things more complicated than they need be?

RJ