Gemma We have just returned home from a lovely five days camping in the sun, wind and a bit of rain. I am ready for a night in my own bed now! But before that, I’ve escaped the piles of laundry and the destruction from tonight’s dinner to write this week’s post. If you have ever camped with small children then you will know that a bit of organisation goes a long way. The morning we left I prepped my pesto recipe for kids to take on the road with us. It’s the only way to survive setting up if I know I can feed the children easily and quickly at the end of the first day.
My pesto recipe for kids is the key to all my rushed dinner wins. I make it most weeks because we all love it. It can be a dressing for salad, for roasted veg, fish and chicken. But in our house, it is usually coating pasta and laden with parmesan!
Pesto for Popeye
I make this so often that I feel it sometimes needs a bit of a nutritional boost from a bag of spinach (shredded). I add it to a pan with olive oil and cook for a minute before adding the pesto and finally the pasta. You can experiment with this pesto in lots of ways, and I hope you do! This makes enough for 4. It keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days and I have even frozen it for a rainy day… it wasn’t too shabby!
Food Processor vs Pestle and Mortar
I use two methods for making pesto. The one I use depends on my mood and what I am cooking. I will show you both ways but it is worth noting that you get a different consistency and taste from each method. I like the pestle and mortar if I am using the pesto in the summer, scattered over tomatoes, as a dressing for bruschettas and seafood or as a topping on a pizza. It’s also lovely for roasting.
The food processor/blender gives that thick, finely chopped effect that goes so well with pasta for a hearty feast. If you don’t have a food processor then don’t worry, the traditional pestle and mortar method makes a nice pasta too and it is a fun way to teach young children about hands-on cooking, tastes, smells and textures. If you are looking to buy a food processor I can fully recommend a Magimix. I have had mine for a little over 8 years and it has been a brilliant investment. It speeds up fiddly jobs and allows me to create meals that would otherwise be labour intense.
Do what works for your family!
Feeding children can sometimes be a struggle… it’s easy to get bogged down with mid-week meals, maybe your kids are going through a fussy stage or you are beating yourself up because you are having pasta again! I think it’s important to do what works. My whole family love this recipe. It’s helped me get out of some tight spots, allowed me to jazz up an otherwise boring chicken with a dollop of this good stuff and it brings a smile to everyone’s face – I think this pesto recipe is a winner for everyone from your kids to your Nan; on the table and in your lunchbox… Pesto for the win!
Pesto Recipe for Kids… And Adults Too!
Ingredients
- 100 g fresh basil
- 40 g cashew nuts Typically people make pesto with pine nuts but I rarely have them in so I use cashew nuts. This is also handy when I am making vegan pesto because I omit the cheese and the cashews offer a creamy texture so it doesn’t feel like it is lacking on mouth feel.
- 50 g fresh parmesan Chopped into chunks. If you are making a vegan pesto just skip the cheese
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- 4 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil I use around 4 tbsp but the consistency of your pesto will be personal so feel free to make it your own
Instructions
Pesto in the food processor
- Blitz two cloves of garlic and lemon juice to a fine chop. In its raw form garlic can be quite pungent and overpower a dish. Adding a drop of lemon at the start helps to mellow the garlic flavour which helps you to balance your pesto.
- With the food processor still running add the cashew nuts, then the parmesan chunks and leave it for about 30 seconds. Chopping the parmesan into chunks helps ensure both the cheese and the nuts blitz evenly.
- Add all the basil in one go. I twist the leaves off the stems and take the lid off the food processor to add the whole 100g in one go.
- Blitz the mix for 10-20 seconds.
- Remove the lid, add olive oil and mix through with a spoon until you reach your desired consistency. Do not blitz once the olive oil is in, this changes the whole texture. Scoop the pesto into a jar or tub and set aside to cook later.
BONUS! Pesto salad dressing
- With the last bits of pesto in the bowl, I like to make a quick salad dressing. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, a good glug of olive oil and pepper to taste. I don’t add salt because I am cooking for young children but you can if it suits you! Mix with the pesto that’s stuck to the sides of the bowl and set aside to dress your salad later!
Pesto in the pestle and mortar
- Add two garlic cloves and pound them to a paste. Halfway through add the lemon juice and continue.
- Add your cashew nuts and pound them until you make a thick paste.
- Add your basil in stages and pound the leaves into the mix. You want to incorporate the basil leaves you have added before you add more.
- Once you have added all the basil and you are happy with the texture grate the parmesan into the mix and pound until fully incorporated.
- Add your olive oil and stir it through. You can make the mix as thick or thin as you like. It really depends what you are using it for. Remember you can always add more olive oil when you come to use the pesto.
- When you are cooking your pesto with a pasta you only want to warm it slightly in a pan, the hot pasta will continue to cook the pesto and you don’t want to over cook those delicate flavours.
Notes
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