So, we’ve done pesto, and heck, we’ve done pesto made with parsely.
There’s also a very nice basil and walnut pesto for spreading on top of naan with tomatoes and fresh mozz before tossing on the grill.
This time, there’s a bit of basil, rather a lot of parsley, and pistachios blended with the garlic, olive oil, and peppers. I’ve left out sea salt because the nuts were already salted). Nice pesto, and perfect for flat bread!
INGREDIENTS
•3/8 cup torn basil leaves, packed
•2 cups fresh parsley
•1/2 cup salted pistachios
•3 cloves garlic
•Black pepper
•Aleppo pepper
•1/2 cup olive oil
Note 1: as a happy coincidence, 3/8 cup packed, torn basil leaves is almost exactly the amount of basil leaves you’ll get from one of those plastic packets of fresh basil from the produce section of your market.
Note 2: did you know you can now buy pistachios shelled? Talk about your convenience food!
Place the basil, parsley, garlic, pistachios, and peppers in the bowl of your food processor fitted with the metal blade.
Give it all a couple of pulses to chop well, then, with the processor running, drizzle the olive oil in through the feed tube until it has all been absorbed and you have this lovely, green, garlicky paste.
Pesto!
Transfer to a bowl, cover, and keep cold until needed. This pesto was destined for flat bread with tomatoes and fresh mozz, so I did not add cheese, but by all means add a half cup of Asiago or your cheese of choice.
And, speaking of that flat bread…
Heat your oven to 425°.
Slice the flat bread in half and spread both cut sides with the pesto.
Top a slice with sliced fresh mozzarella and sliced tomatoes (I used cherry tomatoes this time).
Top with the remaining slice of flat bread and pop into the oven for seven to twelve minutes, or until the cheese is all ooey-gooey and the bread nicely crisped.
Serve with a bit of sherry peppers sauce or mebbe some good balsamic vinegar to drizzle over the top.
Nice pesto, great sammich!