Best Ever Budget Pesto
Pesto is one of the easiest pantry staples to make at home. It’s just a case of adding ingredients to a blender and blitzing! This best ever budget pesto replaces pricey pine nuts for ground almonds to make it more affordable while still yummy, and even squeezes in some leafy greens.
I do not have what you would call “green fingers”. In fact, I would probably describe myself as having “black fingers”. Most of what I have tried to grow in the past has died. Rapidly. The only thing I could get to survive was a mint plant that was so stubborn it actually grew back after I thought I had killed it off due to sitting outside in a waterlogged pot and getting occasional glimpses of sunshine.
So when I bought yet another basil plant in vain hope from a greengrocers locally, I begged the lovely lady who owns the shop for some advice.
She told me how important it is to pick the basil leaves regularly, even when you don’t need any, as that is how the plant knows how much to grow. She insisted on this point, and warned me that while I would eventually need to replant it in a bigger pot, it was worth bearing in mind that the shock of this would probably do some initial damage to the plant before it regained its former beauty.
With my beautiful leafy plant and newfound advice in hand, I headed home and eagerly placed the plant on a sunny windowsill, dutifully watering it whenever it felt dry. As it continued to thrive (despite all my expectations), I followed her advice. I picked lots and lots of basil. And so far it seems to be working wonders. The plant is still gorgeously green and growing bigger by the day.
And now I find myself in a happy dilemma. I regularly have large bunches of basil that need using up. And you know what that means.
Homemade pesto.
Trust me, you have not tasted real pesto until you have made it yourself. It is nothing like shop-bought ones. It is a million times better. And I have yet to meet a kid who doesn’t enjoy it (although I’m sure there are some out there). So when you are looking for something to make a veggie-packed dinner even more appealing to children, I find a spoonful of this stuff will do a pretty good job!
Not to mention, it has spinach in it as well, so actually already contains the leafy greens I try to include in every meal in our house. Although some extra certainly wouldn’t go amiss!
Now, traditional pesto includes pine nuts, and while it is a creamy and yummy addition, let’s face it: pine nuts are not cheap. But we nearly always have ground almonds and other nuts on hand, so this is my budget solution to the problem. And trust me, you don’t miss those pine nuts when you taste the deliciousness of this sauce.
We use it often. We mix it into pasta, drizzle it on soups, stir it into veggies or grains, and smear meat or fish with it. It is wonderfully versatile, and even freezes well in ice cube trays so you have handy portions of it on hand to chuck into your dishes at the last minute.
Food will never taste bland again!
Little hands can:
- add ingredients to the blender and push the button
- decide whether to add a little more olive oil or not
- older kids can measure out the ingredients and do this by themselves
- 1 cups large bunch fresh basil about 2
- 1/4 cup ground almonds 30g
- 2 tbsp cashews soaked in water for 30 mins, optional
- 1 large handful fresh spinach
- 1 clove garlic finely chopped
- 1/2-1 cup olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
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Put all the ingredients except the oil into a blender and start blending. Trickle in the oil through the spout as it blends until it reaches the consistency you are most happy with (we like ours quite smooth but not too liquidy, but some people prefer it more bitty or thinner/thicker).
A little goes a long way with pesto. I tend to only use about 2-3 tsp per person in a recipe, sometimes less if I want it not to be the predominant flavour.
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