Author Notes
On the way to making pesto, rescuing a wilting plant, I discovered I didn't have nearly enough basil leaves. I was going to use Julee Rosso's recipe in Great Good Food and ended up changing nearly everything -- don't you love the serendipity factor!
Use this in all the ways you might use a basil pesto. I enjoyed it in a small omelet this morning, and see it on vegetables, pasta, in salad dressings, on sandwiches.... —susan g
Ingredients
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1/2
cup fresh basil leaves
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2 - 3
cloves garlic
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2
tablespoons chopped black olives (aprox.)
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1
red pepper
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2
tablespoons grated parmesan cheese
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2 tablespoons
toasted sunflower seeds
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1 tablespoon
olive oil
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1 tablespoon
balsamic vinegar
Directions
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Cut the red pepper in half and clean out the seeds. Put under the oven broiler, skin up, until the skin is blistered and blackened. Take it out of the oven, lay it flat on a tray, and put a heavy lid over it, preferably one that weighs the pepper down. When it's cool enough to handle, take the skin off and chop roughly.
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In a food processor bowl, put the pepper, basil leaves, casually chopped garlic and pit-free olives. Run until smooth..
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Add the cheese and sunflower seeds, and run until the seeds are as finely chopped as you like.
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Through the tube on the food processor lid, add the olive oil and balsamic vinegar, then run until emulsified.
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You might want to add salt and/or pepper -- to taste, depending on the taste of the ingredients you've used. Or you might want to adjust the oil and vinegar amounts to suit your preference.
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