I’ve given you the recipe for my all time favourite pesto. It’s packed full of flavour and the secret for me is adding water instead of oil. Pine nuts make a delicious, classic pesto that is thick and creamy, but if you don’t have any you can replace them for pretty much any nut - almond, cashews, Brazil nuts, hazelnuts all work great too.
This is a guest photograph by the very talented Holly Farrier.
Makes 1 tub & takes 15 minutes to cook
Ingredients
80g pine nuts (or any other nut)
50g fresh basil
3 roasted garlic cloves
2 tablespoons water
Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon of honey or maple syrup if you’re using harsher nuts like pistachios or brazil nuts
Large pinch of salt
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C, fan setting.
2. Place the nuts onto a large baking tray, ensuring they are spread out enough so as not to sit on top of one another.
3. Cook for 10 minutes until they are golden and smell delicious.
4. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool completely before placing into a powerful food processor, along with all of the pesto ingredients and pulse until a thick, pesto forms.
