Rocket & Walnut Pesto

Rocket & Walnut Pesto

Take your largest pestle and mortar.* Add 1 or 2 large cloves of garlic with 1/2 tsp salt and bash to a pulp.

Add 120g walnuts (or other nut: almonds, pine nuts, pistachio etc.**) – lightly toasted for a savoury flavour; raw for a sweeter flavour – and grind to a paste.

Add 140g rocket (or other leaf: basil, mint etc.), roughly chopped, and continue to bash and grind until the fibres break down. This takes time and energy.

Fold in 70g of grated parmesan (or other hard cheese; or don’t).

Keep adding olive oil, stirring, until it looks like pesto. You’ll need quite a lot.

Adjust seasoning to taste.

Eat with pasta, with fish, with meat, with vegetables, with bread or on its own.

*If short of time, you can just throw all the ingredients in a blender; however the texture will not be as good.

**Classic variations include:

Ratios may need to be adjusted to taste with different ingredients.

For Beetroot Pesto Salad:

Roast whole beetroots (220°C for ~1hr, depending on size of beets) then submerge in cold water.

Peel beetroots, cut off any imperfections, then roughly chop.

Dress with fresh rocket leaves, a few toasted walnuts and a generous blob of pesto. Add extra seasoning and olive oil if required.

Best served lukewarm.