 | | | Asparagus-Pistachio Nut Pesto Photo Susie Iventosch | | | | | |
Charles Vollmar
Pesto is traditionally an uncooked sauce made with fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and olive oil. It is not uncommon today to find pesto made from a myriad of ingredients from cilantro, arugula or mint to other green vegetables, such as this variation using fresh spring asparagus. This mixture is great tossed with cold pasta, as a crostini topping or as a condiment to grilled fish and spring vegetables. Use care to not over-process this mixture. It should remain crumbly or coarsely chopped.
Ingredients
1 pound asparagus, trimmed and cut diagonally
into 1" pieces
1/4 cup toasted pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped
8 medium fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Pecorino Romano cheese, crumbled into pea-sized pieces
Zest of one lemon
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
Directions
- To blanch the asparagus, bring a small pot of water to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the asparagus pieces all at once and blanch until bright green and tender-crisp, approximately 1 minute. Remove asparagus with a mesh strainer and place the pieces in the bowl of cold water.
Rinse the asparagus pieces a couple of times with cold water to thoroughly cool. Once cool, drain well and dry on paper towels. Set aside.
- To a food processor, add the pistachio nuts, asparagus pieces, basil and cheese. Pulse the processor several times until the mixture is coarsely chopped.
- Remove mixture from the processor to a bowl. Add the extra-virgin olive oil and fold to combine. Using a microplane zester, zest the lemon directly into the bowl and fold in until just combined. Season with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste.
- Pesto can be stored in refrigerator for up to 10 days or frozen for future use.
Makes about 3 cups.
(c) 2002, Epicurean Exchange. All rights reserved
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA