{"id":312,"date":"2008-05-13T16:29:24","date_gmt":"2008-05-13T23:29:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/?p=312"},"modified":"2008-05-13T16:29:24","modified_gmt":"2008-05-13T23:29:24","slug":"vegan-pesto","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/2008\/05\/13\/vegan-pesto\/","title":{"rendered":"Vegan Pesto"},"content":{"rendered":"

Although I adore basil, I usually make my pesto from other herbs, simply due to availability and cost.\u00a0 My favorite combo is half cilantro and half parsley.\u00a0 If I don’t have cilantro, or I don’t have enough of it, I will use spearmint to make up the difference.\u00a0 All the herbs must be fresh.<\/p>\n

Your classic pesto is herbs (usually basil), nuts\/seeds (usually pine nuts, which are seeds), garlic, Parmesan or Romano cheese, and olive oil.\u00a0 Like with any well-known dish, there are always variations, often related to different areas where the dish is made.<\/p>\n

Since I can’t eat dairy much anymore, and I’m not a fan of garlic, I just leave them out.\u00a0 I don’t even miss them.\u00a0 I make up the cheese feeling with method and I use chipotle and cumin instead of garlic.<\/p>\n

The two tools you can use for your pesto are a blender or a food processor.\u00a0 The third is the mortar and pestle but, despite owning a nice one, I have never got the hang of it.\u00a0 They aren’t interchangeable.\u00a0 The techniques and the outcome are slightly different.<\/p>\n

The food processor is the simple method: put the ingredients (except oil) in.\u00a0 Process until done.\u00a0 Add oil, mix.\u00a0 You end up with a thick wonderful spread that has texture to it (you can choose how much).<\/p>\n

The blender is a bit harder to use but gives you a rich creamy pesto that melts in your mouth.\u00a0 If you’re not putting cheese into it, this is a good way to get some of that creamy mouth feel.<\/p>\n

With the blender, you want to do the nuts\/seeds first.\u00a0 Pine nuts work very well here because they blend up smooth.\u00a0 Blend a few of them dry at low speed to break them up.\u00a0 Add small amounts of liquid (the olive oil or some lemon juice) until they are totally creamy.\u00a0 Add more seeds\/nuts then liquid as needed, until they are all as creamy as you can make them.\u00a0 Put the seasoning in at some point during this process.<\/p>\n

The last thing is the herbs.\u00a0 Unless your blender is much better than mine, you can’t just put them in.\u00a0 You need to rough chop them first.\u00a0 Especially anything with stems.<\/p>\n

\"Chopped<\/p>\n

Add the herbs and blend until the sauce is green but the herbs still have some small pieces.<\/p>\n

Recipe:<\/h2>\n

Notes: Amounts are approximations.\u00a0 Use whatever tastes good. Pinch basil and mint leaves off the stems.\u00a0 For parsley and cilantro, twist off the bottom half of the bunch and discard.\u00a0 Don’t bother removing stems beyond this, unless they are very thick or woody.<\/p>\n

2 bunches herbs (all basil, 1 parsley and then either 1 cilantro, 1 spearmint, or both)
\n2 cups pine nuts (I use them straight from the freezer) or 1+ cups walnuts
\nSalt to taste
\nBlack pepper if desired
\nSeasoning (a couple cloves of garlic or my favorite, chipotle pepper powder and cumin)
\nFresh lemon juice if desired<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Ways to serve pesto:<\/h2>\n

1) With tofu (or another firm protein) as a thick sauce. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

I had it the other day with a big green salad as a base (with a light vinaigrette dressing), warm sauteed strips of tofu, then creamy blender pesto (cilantro, parsley, spearmint and pine nuts).<\/p>\n

\"Pesto<\/p>\n

2) On pasta. <\/strong><\/h3>\n

Here’s a recipe of mine from 2005:<\/p>\n

1 package Nutrition Kitchen black soybean pasta, boiled and drained<\/p>\n

6 large mushrooms (crimini, not white, and they were very large), sliced
\n1\/4 cup red wine
\nSeveral handfuls fresh spinach
\n1\/8 cup pine nuts
\nSalt and pepper
\nAbout 1 cup pesto (mine was frozen)<\/p>\n

Saute the mushrooms until soft and flavorful
\nAdd wine and simmer
\nAdd pesto (I would add it at the end if not frozen)
\nAdd spinach, put lid on pan, steam
\nSeason with salt and pepper<\/p>\n

I added a bit of water to thin out the very thick sauce.<\/p>\n

Serve over the pasta.\u00a0 Fed two adults plus tastes for the baby (she loves mushrooms and seemed to really enjoy the pesto sauce–Miriam was 9 months old when I wrote this).<\/p>\n

Another easy 30 minute meal (minus the cleanup).\u00a0 Even if I had to make the pesto from scratch, it wouldn’t add much time.\u00a0 I’d do it while the water was boiling and the mushrooms were sauteing.<\/p>\n

3) In wraps, on sandwiches.<\/h3>\n

4) As a dip for vegetables, cold leftover sauteed tofu, on on a spoon.<\/h3>\n

5) On fish.\u00a0 Or meat if you eat it.<\/h3>\n

6) On salad (I’d make it with lemon juice).<\/h3>\n

7) Any way you want.<\/h3>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Although I adore basil, I usually make my pesto from other herbs, simply due to availability and cost.\u00a0 My favorite combo is half cilantro and half parsley.\u00a0 If I don’t have cilantro, or I don’t have enough of it, I will use spearmint to make up the difference.\u00a0 All the herbs must be fresh. Your […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[21,26,3,14],"tags":[7,6,8,11,77,34,5,12],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dressings-sauces","category-food","category-recipes","category-spreads-dips","tag-dairy-free","tag-egg-free","tag-gluten-free","tag-lowcarb","tag-photos-food","tag-raw","tag-vegan","tag-vegetarian"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/norwitz.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}