Pesto

Pesto is one of the most favourite things for a rapid and tasty tea. And although it isn’t wildly expensive to buy a pot of pesto, make it at home and a whole world of inexpensive pesto’s opens up to you. I have found that a delicious pesto can be made by adding lots of basil to a variety of things. Make pesto with a head of broccoli or even cauliflower stalks, or spring greens, and you will be having more veg too, always a good thing, and as pesto pasta is a kids favourite, maybe getting them to eat more veg too. Then there is one of the first posts here, a seasonal treat in the spring time, wild garlic pesto, or more recently sage, lemon and pumpkin seed, or rocket, watercress, basil and sunflower seed.

Then we have runner bean pesto to use some of the runners in summer, that recipe can also be amended to use all kinds of other vegetables instead of the beans.

All pesto’s freeze extremely well. Store them in containers that are 1 meal size for your family unit and you practically have a ready meal right there.

As well as on pasta, I love a generous spread of pesto on toast, or in a sandwich, with or without value cream cheese. It goes well as a flavour boost on jacket potatoes, added to couscous, stuff it in the middle of a chicken breast, swirl it through a bowl of soup. In fact, anywhere the wonderful flavours of a pesto will add flavour, put it to work