Basil Sunflower Seed Pesto
|Yield: 2 cups | Time: 5 minutes |
This recipe originally appeared in Growing Perennial Foods: A field guide to raising resilient herbs, fruits, and vegetables. On sale now.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil
½ cup fresh parsley (de-stemmed)
⅓ cup sunflower seeds, pine nuts, or walnuts
2 cloves garlic (or 1 tsp garlic powder)
½ cup olive oil
¼ cup + 2 T nutritional yeast
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt, more to taste
⅛ tsp black pepper
Squeeze of lemon
Preparation:
1. In a food processor or high speed blender, pulse the basil, parsley, sunflower seeds, and garlic until finely minced.
2. With the food processor running, slowly trickle in the olive oil until the mixture resembles a nice paste. Scrape the sides of the bowl for an even blend.
3. Add the nutritional yeast, nutmeg, salt, pepper, and lemon. Adjust seasonings to taste.
4. Use immediately or keep in the fridge. Press plastic wrap on top of pesto while storing to preserve color and freshness. Pesto also freezes well for later use.
Note: You can keep the parsley stems to use in homemade stock.
This recipe is excerpted from Growing Perennial Foods: A field guide to raising resilient herbs, fruits & vegetables, by climate activist and farmer Acadia Tucker. In the book, she lays the groundwork for tending an organic, regenerative garden. For her, this is gardening as if our future depends on it, and she spells out why. The book includes profiles of 34 popular herbs, fruits, and vegetables, along with recipes. The companion book is Growing Good Food: A citizen’s guide to backyard carbon farming. On sale now.