Zesto Pesto

evelyn/athens's Note:

OK, the name's silly, but this version of pesto is really good! The recipe makes enough to generously sauce 1 lb of your favourite pasta. Developed for RSC #6. (edited to add that this recipe eventually won Ready, Set, Cook! #6. I am so proud of this creation and all the favourable reviews it has received - thanks to all who have tried it.)

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

Ingredients:

Serves: 4

Yield: 1.0 lb of p ...

• 3 garlic cloves
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 5 black peppercorns
• 1 cup firmly packed spinach leaves , stems discarded, washed well and spun dry
• 1 cup firmly packed fresh basil leaf
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup very dry white wine
• ½ cup cashews, toasted lightly and cooled or ½ cup pine nuts
• ½ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 lemon , zest of
• 1 lb linguine (or your favourite pasta) or 1 lb tagliatelle pasta noodles (or your favourite pasta)

Directions:

1. Mince and mash the garlic to a paste with salt and peppercorns.
2. In a processor or blender, puree spinach with basil, oil, wine, cashews, Parmesan, lemon zest and garlic paste.
3. The pesto keeps, covered with a thin film of olive oil and chilled, up to 2 weeks.
4. This makes enough for 1 lb of pasta.

Reviews

[AKillian24]

DH is a meat and potato kinda guy... but he loved this! I used it over chicken breast and cheese tortellini with sun-dried tomato french bread. Fanstastic - thanks for posting! Update 12/07: I love the 'skinny' version of this Pesto Sauce: I use a high quality white wine, double the amount called for and toss in some lemon juice in place of the full zest - then reduce the olive oil by about half. I also use reduced fat parmesan cheese. Fantastic! I've also noticed that (oddly enough) I preferthe cashews over pine nuts in this recipe.

[MikesWife115]

I enjoyed this pesto, especially the addition of fresh spinach to it, which I've never done. The only issue I had was that I found three garlic cloves to be WAY too strong for me, and I love garlic. Obviously, its "zesto" pesto, so I should have anticipated that, but I found that I had to cut the overly intense garlic with some more nuts and oil. I do have to say that the flavor mellowed after two days in the fridge. As far as pesto recipes go, this one is a keeper!!

[elli2cook]

This pesto tastes light and is so refreshing! I used a little less olive oil (just added the oil until it came to the right consistency.) I served it with linguine and the family actually favored this dish more after the pasta had cooled, kind of like a pasta salad. Next time, I'll serve the pesto & pasta as a side dish instead of a main meal because I think chicken, fish or steak would go great with this. I'll also try adding this pesto to crostinis and maybe top them with a little feta. Thank you for sharing your recipe.