Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Spinach Pesto

Every other Wednesday I will be sharing a vegetable side dish instead of a kitchen tip. This is part of one of my personal goals to make vegetables take a more central roll in my dinners instead of being an afterthought. 

I love basil, unfortunately it is not one of the herbs that my husband likes a ton. He will eat it, thankfully! However, pesto made with basil is a bit too much for him. Spinach Pesto works for us because I get a basil flavor but it is not too overwhelming for my husband. I also love this version since it gets a full serving (or two) of leafy greens.

 
Spinach Pesto
First, you'll need a blender (or food processor) and spinach.
You'll need 5 cups (loosely packed) spinach.
1/8 to 1/4 cup basil (depending on how much flavor you want.)
3 cloves garlic, minced.
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup oil, and 1/3 cup pecans. You can use pine nuts instead of pecans (I just don't really like pine nuts, but I love pecans!)
Blend (or process) until spinach is pureed and nuts are chopped into small pieces.
You'll also need some pasta.
Add the pesto to the pasta.
Toss until the pesto coats the pasta evenly.
  Or as evenly as you can... I love to top with more parmesan.
Enjoy!

1 comment:

  1. I love pesto & that is such a great idea to add spinach to iy.
    Please pop over if you would like to add up to 3 recipes to our entree week of Get Grillin'. We would love to have you :) http://su.pr/17fizq

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