Vegan Basil Pesto

Q: If it looks like pesto, smells like pesto and tastes like pesto, does that mean you can call it pesto?

A: No, you can’t.

Pesto doesn’t have many ingredients, so the ones it does have are a pretty integral part of any respectable pesto recipe.  However, every day you will find recipes like parsley presto or pesto with walnuts all over the cooking blogosphere, which are all interesting ideas but none of which can hold a candle to the real deal. However, because store-bought pesto is pretty expensive over here and I really wanted to try my hand at making a homemade version, I sort of made up the following recipe.

This is not a pesto recipe. I repeat, this is NOT a pesto recipe. But it’s a pretty nice alternative if you’re one of those people who a) Like pesto, b) Want to make homemade presto, c) Think that pine nuts are insanely expensive and (forgive the pun) you have to be a  nut to buy them if you live in Egypt, d) You don’t like cheese and e) You’re me. But if none of the above applies to you and you still want to give it a try go ahead, you might end up liking it.

Ingredients:
2 cups blanched basil
1 cup almonds
2 or 3 cloves garlic
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup olive oil
Salt (to taste)
Pepper (optional)
Water

Directions:

After hearing that pesto loses its beautiful greenness after a while, I decided to blanch my basil first (aka putting the basil leaves into boiling water for thirty seconds then plunging them in ice cold water) to hopefully help it maintain its colour after it’s been made into pesto.

Give almonds a quick blitz in your food processor. Now add the garlic cloves, salt, sugar and lime juice. Pulse just enough to mix them.

Add the basil and get your oil ready. Start blitzing the mixture while slowly adding the oil until everything is incorporated. At this point I added a little water because I wanted a smoother more liquid-y texture.

True to my current freezing frenzy, I froze half my fake pesto in these cute ice cube trays so I can pop one or two out whenever I want some.

We tried and liked this as a sandwich spread with grilled chicken slices and as a salad dressing added to mayonnaise. You could also add a bit of milk or cream to it and turn it into a creamy, pesto-ey pasta sauce.

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Vegan Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• 2 cups blanched basil
• 1 cup almonds
• 2 or 3 cloves garlic
• Juice of one lime
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ¼ cup olive oil
• Salt to taste
• Pepper optional
• Water

Instructions

1. After hearing that pesto loses its beautiful greenness after a while, I decided to blanch my basil first (aka putting the basil leaves into boiling water for thirty seconds then plunging them in ice cold water) to hopefully help it maintain its colour after it’s been made into pesto.
2. Give almonds a quick blitz in your food processor. Now add the garlic cloves, salt, sugar and lime juice. Pulse just enough to mix them.
3. Add the basil and get your oil ready. Start blitzing the mixture while slowly adding the oil until everything is incorporated. At this point I added a little water because I wanted a smoother more liquid-y texture.
4. True to my current freezing frenzy, I froze half my fake pesto in these cute ice cube trays so I can pop one or two out whenever I want some.
5. We tried and liked this as a sandwich spread with grilled chicken slices and as a salad dressing added to mayonnaise. You could also add a bit of milk or cream to it and turn it into a creamy, pesto-ey pasta sauce.