recipe: pesto rosso

one of the smartest things I did before C was born was to stock our freezer with a few snacks and meals. We don't have a lot of freezer space- just the top of our fridge, so I tried to make things that didn't take up lots of space. Gotta leave room for the ice cream after all...

when Waldi went back to work, I was so thankful I had a few things already prepped and stored away. One of these things was pesto- I made our favorite basic pesto recipe, as well as a pesto rosso, inspired by a pizza I ordered at a restaurant which was topped with this sauce. It was so delicious, I knew I had to try my hand at making it. there are of course, multiple combinations of ingredients that are suitable for this recipe, but here's what I did:

you will need:

one jar of dried tomatoes, in oil
50g pine nuts
generous handful of basil
3-4 heaped tbsp parmesan
olive oil (as needed)
salt & pepper

optional: 2 cloves of garlic (I left this out because I'm breastfeeding and wanted to be able to eat the pesto raw as a spread)

slice up your tomatoes, to make them a little easier to blend. add them in their oil together with the pine nuts and basil (and garlic). Blend together, using a handheld mixer or food processor. If needed, add a little extra olive oil. Add your parmesan, salt & pepper and stir with a wooden spoon.

Now, either put your pesto into jars to store in the fridge/freezer or add it to pasta, fresh bread or salad dressing. For the pasta in the photo above, we mixed the pesto with spaghetti (and a little cooking water), and then topped with grilled zucchini and chicken. Delicious!