Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Spinach Pesto

Did you see the recipe in the most recent Taste of Home about making your own pesto? I don't have any basil, but I do have access to fresh spinach and realized that spinach and basil would be easily interchangeable in a recipe!

Here's what you'll need:

2 c. packed fresh baby spinach leaves
1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/8 tsp. salt
1/4 c. or less olive oil


Put everything except the olive oil into a food processor and process until everything is chopped nice and small. Will look like this -

Now, with the food processor running - slowly add olive oil. I thought 1/4 c. seemed a bit much, so on my next batch I used about 1 Tbsp. less.

I spread it on homemade bread and made a grilled turkey and cheese for lunch! Yum! Tomorrow, a recipe I made using this pesto!

16 comments:

Melissa said...

Yum! I am going to try this.

Amy @ Keep'n The SunnySide said...

We love pesto. I make homemade pizza by spreading pesto on a rolled out pizza crust, topping it with sliced tomatoes, and freshly sliced mozzarella. It is delish! Thanks for the "how to".

Mary Ann said...

Yum! I grow basil every year for fresh pesto. So good! I guess any green could be substituted!

Like Amy, I spread pesto on pizza. It's also so good mixed with scrambled eggs(looks a little funny though) and tossed with hot pasta.

Can't wait to see your recipe!

Sara said...

I was so excited to see that pesto page when I read the mag just yesterday! I am the proud owner of a new food processor and I love trying stuff like this!

Angelia in TX said...

Awesome! Thanks sweet lady, this is so great. A friend of mine gave me a simple lunch idea with pesto just yesterday. We shared a lil lunch together. It was basil pesto with tomatoe and fresh mozzarella on cabatia bread. Now I can make pesto with your recipe. YIPE! How would you do this with basil I wonder...just replace the spinach or add basilto your recipe? The pizza sound super yummy too! I can not wait to see tomorrows post on what you made! Smile, Angelia

Unknown said...

thanks SO much for sharing this!! Where we live we can't buy pesto, and i LOVE it...but never really tried to make it on my own...definitly going to try this!

Wendi said...

I can see that spread on a wrap with bacon and tomato. Yummy!

Beverly said...

that sounds delish, gonna give that a try!

*carrie* said...

This looks delicious! I'm going to try it as well. I don't have a food processor--what do you think I should use instead?

rachel@thecupcakesprinklesinlife said...

We love pesto (we now make it vegan though with nutritional yeast rather than parm. cheese) and then I freeze it all in plastic wrap lined ice cube trays... pop em in a ziplock in the freezer and grap as many as needed when cooking-

though- I've never used spinach...hmm, and
I add pine nuts and fresh squeezed lemon.

Lee said...

I did see this in TOH, but as you said, no basil. I'll have to try this idea. We love it on pizza.

Flannel Jammies Farm said...

SSssssoooooooo glad you shared this as I have not seen Taste of Home! This looks wonderful and we have so much fresh, tender spinach up in the garden. Deliciousness coming right up!

Davonne said...

This recipe looks good! I recently discovered that I enjoy spinach so I'll have to try it :)

On another note, I have narrowed curriculum choices down to two options for my daughter's kindergarten year this fall. One of those is "My Father's World." I believe that is the curriculum you've used this year - I'd love to see a review on it about what you liked, what you didn't, if you're going to use it again, etc etc.

Dalyn said...

mmmm I love to make pesto, ad that looks like a great recipe. I'll try it! I love raw spinache. Thanks~

A Dusty Frame said...

I'm wondering how I'd like the taste because I love the basil flavor and it would be lacking in this.

I imagine it would work fine but I'm not sure the taste would be to my liking;)

Saver Queen said...

That's great! I really like the idea of putting it on pizza, too. ow was the flavour in comparison to making pesto with basil? Was it comparable?