Today in the Wee Laird’s Kitchen we took a little culinary trip to one of my favorite places – Italy! I have made pesto many times over the years – with many variations on the traditional pesto recipe – but Lion’s recipe today might just be one of my favorites. Simple, quick, and super delicious! This recipe is very close to the traditional pesto recipe you’ll find when traveling around Tuscany – but there are a few changes we made today. We were all very pleased with the results and we hope you’ll give our pesto recipe a try!

Pesto

• 2 cups fresh Basil leaves
• 1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano
• 2 tablespoons roasted or sauteed garlic
• 1/8-1/4 cup pecan pieces
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup avocado oil
• S&P to taste
• Splash of water

• Pasta or pasta substitute of your choice.
• Diced rainbow tomatoes / cherry tomatoes
• Extra parm and basil for garnish
• Optional – grilled chicken

Combine all ingredients through splash of water in a blender and blend until smooth. Boil pasta or lightly saute veggie spirals (we had Zoodles today), then toss hot pasta with your pesto (add a splash of pasta water to make the sauce extra creamy). Toss pasta until pesto has become smooth and has fully covered all pasta. Optional – top with diced tomatoes, grilled chicken, and a sprinkle of extra parm. Serve warm or cold (both warm and cold are common in Italy).

Traditionally pesto is made with raw garlic but I love the sweetness that roasted and/or sauteed garlic adds. Today I sauteed some garlic because I had used the last of my roasted garlic paste a few days ago (a great time saving trick to add loads of flavor in a flash is to roast multiple whole bulbs of garlic during weekly meal prep and then store the delicious paste in a small jar in the fridge for recipes throughout the week).

Most pesto recipes call for pinon nuts but unfortunately we didn’t have any on hand today – we did however have pecans. While I wasn’t sure about the substitute at first – today’s pesto came out so delightfully I think I might always use pecans!

The last substitute we made today was avocado oil. I substituted half the volume of olive oil with avocado oil. By leaving in half the volume of regular olive oil I kept the flavor profile this classic Italian dish is known for. Substituting in half the volume with avocado oil makes the recipe more in line with an anti-inflammatory diet. Win/Win!

If you want to keep this recipe vegetarian (lacto-vegetarian) you can serve as is over your pasta of choice. If you are on an omnivores diet and want to add more protein you can add some grilled chicken to the top. No matter what your preference is – vegetation, omnivores, grain free – this recipe is a winner and we hope you’ll give it a try!

Wishing you all good health, love, and happy cooking from our kitchen to yours.