For us, pesto is more than just a dressing for pasta. It’s a shortcut flavouring option for numerous meals. It can be used on top of a flatbread pizza instead of tomato sauce, mashed with avocado to add flavour and creaminess to a pasta salad, used as a flavour boost on top of frittata muffins or whisked up with oil and lemon to make a salad dressing.
This is our standard, basic pesto recipe, just like Luise’s Italian nonna makes it. You can use a store-bought option, of course, but homemade always tastes better.
We also make a vegan version with nutritional yeast and cashew nuts to keep it creamy instead of the cheese (see tips). The nutritional yeast adds that cheesy flavour, making the two versions very similar.
If you feel like playing around with this recipe, you can add kale, spinach, rocket or even raw broccoli to the herbs. The pine nuts can be substituted with other nuts, and you can even try adding sweet fruit, like mango or raisins, for an interesting flavour twist.