This is my take on a handy herb pesto that does not contain cheese, dairy ingredients or gluten. Not everyone is a fan of a very strong basil flavour so in this mix I used coriander, parsley, and basil. I didn’t add garlic as I am not able to tolerate raw garlic. However if you are a garlic fan I suggest that you add garlic to add taste and depth and also health benefits to this ‘pesto’.

I made this in my Nutribullet. I have spoken about this in my previous Herb Blitz recipe here.  If you do not have a NutriBullet with a little bit of effort this should blitz with a hand-held blender or in a food processor or blender.

Handy Herb-Style Pesto

Blitztastic!!

Ingredients:

• Fresh coriander – lots – approximately ½ large container
• Fresh parsley –  about 75:25 with coriander; approximately 1 decent fistful or small container
• Fresh basil leaves – decent fistful depending on how strong you like the basil flavour. I tend to use more coriander and less basil.
• Pine nuts – decent amount toasted under the grill or in a dry frying or sauce pan
• Extra Virgin olive oil – sufficient to allow the blender to blitz all the herbs and not too much so start low and add more as needed.
• 1 to 2 teaspoons hot paprika or chili powder depending on how ‘hot’ you like it!
• Generous seasoning from Celtic, Atlantic or Himalayan salt

Optional:

• If you are a garlic fan add 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic. As it is raw it can taste strong so start tentatively.
• Instead of pine nuts Go Raw sprouted and salted pumpkinseeds taste amazing or salted roasted cashew nuts work superbly also.
• To help the mixture blitz while limiting oil I often add a dash of balsamic vinegar.
• If you wish to add further flavour and healing benefits then try ground dried turmeric and/ or fresh or dried chilli

Coriander

Parsley

Basil

Pine nuts

Salt and Paprika

Extra virgin olive oil

Instructions:

1. Wash all herbs (coriander, parsley, and basil) well.
2. Dry in a salad spinner or dab dry with a paper towel to remove excess water.
3. Place all your herbs, toasted pine nuts, seasoning, chili/ paprika and a decent glug of olive oil in the Nutri-Bullet and blitz (or with a hand-held blender or in a blender/ food processor).
4. Blend until mixed through; but not too much as you want to keep the mixture a little on the coarse side.
5. You may need to add more olive oil if the mixture doesn’t move well. Avoid using too much oil as this dressing is more nutritious, more pungent in flavour and less high in calories when kept dense in consistency.
6. How long you blitz this all depends on how smooth you wish to make it.
7. I stored this in a glass jam-jar and kept it in the fridge for use when needed.
8. This herb blitz should keep well as I would assume that the olive oil will keep it preserved for at least a week or two but trust me you will use this up rather quickly!

Enjoy!

Ingredients ready to blitz; note there isn’t that much olive oil!

This is the texture that I was happy with. It took a lot of stopping, starting and shaking the mixture around to get it blending because I didn’t want to add too much olive oil.

Ready to store in the fridge for later use.

How to use your Herb-Style Pesto:

I am sure that you can come up with more ideas than the following but here are a few suggestions for using your herb blitz:

• Use as straight forward herb dressing or dip.
• Use on toast, bread, wraps, sushi or cabbage wraps as a spread or mayonnaise alternative with a flavour and nutrition kick.
• Stir through hummus or guacamole for depth of flavour.
• Add to canned beans to make a fast dip
• Toss through roasted vegetables before or after roasting.
• Toss through steamed vegetables before serving.
• Serve with fish or poultry.
• Serve on top of steak.
• Scrape on your crackers or toast instead of oil or butter.
• Use to make herb bread by adding to your home-made bread mixture before baking.
• Use to smother a baked potato, baked sweet potato or home-made fries.
• Stir through yogurt, cottage cheese, or coconut milk to make a dip or dressing.
• Use as an alternative to mayonnaise.

The list is endless and this herb blitz packs a powerful punch of nutrients for example plant-based phytonutrients (antioxidants), magnesium, beta carotene, vitamin K and Vitamin E so get adding this to your meals for nutrition clout and wonderful colour.

Enjoy,

Love,

Andrea