Most people are familiar with classic Ligurian basil pesto. On holiday in Italy I noticed that there were pestos based on rocket (ruccola) and spinach on the supermarket shelves. Obviously it is not necessary to restrict yourselves to basil leaves or even pinenuts to do a pesto.
It occured to me that with watercress being so plentiful in Hampshire's chalk streams that it would be worth trying out a watercress pesto.
The following recipe makes about 300 g which is enough to fill a washed out salsa jar. It is also aimed at using the whole of a typical sized 80-85 gram bag of watercress. If we have pasta with pesto as a main course we use about 30 g/person and serve with grilled pine nuts (or grilled pumpkin or sunflower seeds)
Ingredients
80-85 g watercress
50 g peanuts
50 g Parmesan cheese (or similar Italian hard cheese)
50 ml ground nut oil
50 ml extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic
salt and pepper to taste
Method
I know that the word pesto comes from the Italian verb pestare which means to grind with a mortar and pestle but I do it the quick way with a food processor.
1. Finely grate the cheese (use a fine wheel on the food processor)
2. Chop up the peanuts and garlic (whizz for a few seconds)
3. Add the watercress and whizz until well chopped (see picture in blog header)
4. Add the salt and pepper
5. Whizz adding the ground nut oil and olive oil slowly
6. Store in a sterilised jar and add a little oil on the top.
A TIP: sometimes I find that when I mix homemade pesto with pasta, it sticks in small lumps to the pasta. This is fixed if you retain a little pasta water and mix through; the pesto smoothens.
2006-11-29 @ 04:54