Cilantro Pesto

DragonShoes's Note:

This is a wonderful twist on pesto. Sometimes the basil version gets old and you want to impress everyone at the dinner table or potluck with a tasty new version.

• Total Time: 10 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 0 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 1.0 cup

• 1 cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
• ½ cup almonds
• 3 large garlic cloves
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese
• ¼ cup olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Combine the cilantro, garlic and almonds in a blender or food processor and puree until smooth. Add the parmesan, oil and salt and puree to a smooth paste. Stir into hot pasta and serve.

Reviews

[marliewiggins]

This is so good I made it 3 times. First tossed with pasta, then put on Italian bread slices and then added to quesadillas oh and what was left went on the pizza. Thank you for a keeper, it's in my favorite recipe book now. I didn't change a thing!

[east coast nellie]

Thank you for this easy and quick! recipe. I love it! Tonight, I got the pasta boiling before I started to wash the cilantro and assemble my ingredients. By the time the pasta was done, the pesto was a perfect paste, and the whole thing was on the table in under 20 minutes. Just as a side note, I added some baby carrots and sliced turkey kielbasa to the boiling water with my pasta, and tossed it all together with the pesto after draining. It was delish! I also made an alternate version with half cup of thai basil and half cilantro, using 2 tblsp of sesame oil instead of olive and that was very tasty as well! I used the almonds each time, and 4 cloves of garlic instead of three. This recipe is a keeper, and very versatile. I even added a dollop of plain yogurt tonight to make it a little creamy and it was fantastic.

[r&c2011]

We loved this! I had planned on making the basil pesto, but cilantro was all I had on hand. This recipe came up after a quick search. Glad I tried it! I did not have almonds, so I used what I had which was unsalted macadamia nuts. Tasted wonderful. Added alitlte extra olive oil since my blender would not puree it until I added more. I'd say about a tablespoon more oilive oil. We'll be making this one again!