Pesto

Sweet basil pesto has a charm of its own, but there are other leaves that will give you awesome tasting pesto as well.

I had an abundance of lettuce that was close to wilting and was in no mood to have that much salad, so I converted the batch into pesto - pretty much the same deal as with the basil version, except that I had a few more ingredients lying around I wanted to finish.

Grind together:
2 large heads of lettuce leaves (I had iceberg lettuce)
1/2 cup basil
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup cashew nuts
1/4 cup walnuts
3-4 cloves garlic
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup Parmesan or other hard cheese (optional)

Since this recipe already has a lot of greens, I don't need to add any more to the pasta. If needed, cook the pasta, drain, and stir fry with some garlic, onions and chilli flakes. The sauce is creamy enough without adding cheese, but you can add cheese on top.

You could also make this out arugula/rocket leaves. I used 1 bunch of chopped leaves to make 1/2 cup of pesto. It could also be used as a sandwich spread.


You can also mix sweet basil to either of the pestos to add flavour. Or just use a cup of basil on its own for a classic.