Parsley Pesto – 3 Ways

A couple of months ago, I stumbled onto a life-changing real food hack that I absolutely love. It has literally changed the way I prepare our food and made healthy eating so much tastier and so much easier.

It’s very simple: make 1-2 sauces each week. At the weekend, I get the blender out and make a batch of flavour-packed (and often veg-packed) sauce that I can use for dipping, pouring, stirring through and drizzling over snacks, lunches, dinners and even breakfasts (hello scrambled eggs with pesto and goat’s cheese!).

When I combine this with another of my favourite weekend preps of roasting up a load of veggies, it makes eating vegetables throughout the week infinitely easier and much more fun! Roasted carrots sounds like a dull snack until you can dip it in beetroot hummus or drizzle it with chimichurri sauce.

My current favourite sauce (I’ve literally made this every week for over a month now) is parsley pesto. I discovered its joys when my basil plant up and died on me and I found out my greengrocer stocked huge bunches of fresh curly leaf parsley (so much tastier than flat leaf parsley) that they simply wrap an elastic band around (no plastic packaging!). I had half a bunch left in the fridge to use up and no basil, and so I experimented. And the experiment resulted in my new favourite food thing.

I have played and tweaked and have come up with 3 different but equally delicious ways to make this sauce so it never gets old. It is a cheap, super simple and really tasty way to add more flavour to basically anything!

And once you’ve made a batch, why not stir some through this delicious kale & apple salad.

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Parsley Pesto - 3 Ways

Prep Time

2 mins

Total Time

2 mins

 

This delicious parsley pesto can be made 3 ways so it never gets dull, and be made as a big batch at the start of the week to be drizzled and stirred and poured over snacks, lunches, dinners and even breakfast eggs. Easy, cheap, gluten free, vegan, sugar free and low carb.

Course: Appetizer, Autumn, Breakfast, Dairy Free, Dinner, Entree, Fall, Gluten Free, Low Carb, Lunch, Main Course, Pasta, Salad, Sauce, Side, Side Dish, Sides, Snack, Snacks, Spring, Starter, Sugar Free, Summer, Sweetener Free, Vegan, Vegetarian, Winter

Servings: 250 ml (1 cup)

Ingredients

Basic Parsley Pesto:

• 1 big bunch curly leaf parsley (flat leaf parsley will do in a pinch)
• 1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons cashew nuts, almonds or pine nuts
• pinch sea salt or 1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan
• extra virgin olive oil

Veggie-Loaded Version:

• Basic Parsley Pesto ingredients
• a handful of broccoli florets
• a handful of frozen peas

"Chimichurri-Style" Chilli Parsley Pesto:

• 1 big bunch curly leaf parsley (flat leaf parsley will do in a pinch)
• 2 small cloves garlic (or 1 big one)
• 1 red chilli (de-seeded if you don't want it hot!)
• extra virgin olive oil
• sea salt & black pepper

Instructions

1. For the basic pesto or the veggie-loaded one: place all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender or food processor and blitz until finely chopped, then add about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the olive oil and blitz until smooth. If it's not very smooth or looking a bit thick/chunky, add more olive oil until it reaches a smooth, pouring consistency.

2. For the "chimichurri-style" sauce: chop everything very finely and add to a jar. Pour over about 125ml (1/2 cup) of the olive oil and shake or stir well to combine. Season to taste, and add more olive oil if you want it thinner.