'Pesto' made from seasonal veg not herbs?

ti1980

Describing it like celery has put me off. Celery is one veg that I am not keen on at all. Though you say it is more flavoursome than celery. I'm not sure what it is about celery, maybe its the fact that its all 'crunch' and no flavour. I dislike water chestnuts too, yuck!
Pistachios on the other hand I love! Yum!

Gingham_Ribbon

It's not as watery as celery and it doesn't have stringy bits. Worth a try!

Sharra

mmm these sound great ideas.
Re the making pesto without pine nuts - I've been making it with sunflower seeds/pumkin seeds/cashews - whatever crunchy bits you have to hand seem to work really well.
And it freezes well too.

ti1980

I've just had a look at some shop bought pesto in the fridge and it uses cashew nuts. Yum, that is my favourite nut!

Aril

My brother in law makes it with nettles this time of year. Haven't tried it so can't vouch for the flavour.
Aril

happyathome_withmyboys

Parsley and walnut over chicken livers....
Absolutely bl**dy marvellous - and a great way to use up the 'old' parsley which is crowding out the new growth - stems and all.

Gingham_Ribbon

I made rocket pesto tonight. Rocket, pine nuts, parmesan, garlic, olive oil. I toasted the pine nuts first. I think that made a difference. It was really nice. I've saved some of it to add to soup after seeing a recipe in the BBC food magazine.

happyathome_withmyboys

Going to make Jack by the Hedge pesto tomorrow. Did wild garlic last week - but forgot and whacked in a couple of cloves of garlic as well - hot stuff! Still, shouldn't be suffering from any colds in the near future...
I've also found a big patch of wild onions, so I might use some of those instead of garlic in tomorrow's pesto.

Has anyone tried hawthorne leaf pesto? No reason why it shouldn't work....
Also dandelion leaf if rocket works...

spiddy100

I tried kale pesto last week using Gingham Ribbon's recipe - first few mouthfuls were delicious but I have to admit the taste was quite overpowering and I didn't finish the plate. It was too fiery for me, kind of like eating raw cabbage - tastes nice but you start getting heartburn before you've finished chewing.

The overall effect reminded me of a spinach and ricotta pasta sauce (which I've never made but have eaten in restaurants before) rather than basil pesto (though I admit I've never made my own basil pesto either so perhaps HM is different from the jar stuff).

I don't think I'd have the kale version again but brocolli or spinach would be nice.

tumbleweed261

I've got the pistachio and fennel pesto from Aldi on the go at the moment and it is gorgeous, a lovely change from regular pesto