If you follow me on Twitter, you may have seen this recipe coming…
Spent an hour moving furniture so I could photograph pesto in good lighting. Will now spend an hour asking myself what I’m doing w/ my life.
— Nicole Perry (@nicoleperr) January 13, 2014
No, but really (see last tweet): pic.twitter.com/wXz3y2GwEO
— Nicole Perry (@nicoleperr) January 13, 2014
In my world, adding avocado to just about anything (cereal not withstanding) makes it better. I loved the creamier texture and taste it gave to this otherwise basic pesto recipe. The only downside—and I mean only—is that, like guacamole, the avocado will cause the pesto to turn brown if you don’t eat it right away. This recipe makes almost 2 cups of it, so I found myself using brown leftover pesto for the rest of the week—still delicious, just not quite as pretty. You could add a little lemon juice to help offset the brown; but the easier solution is just to make less at a time.
A creamy, healthy twist on traditional pesto sauce.
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed basil
- 1 avocado, pitted and peeled
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a food processor, excluding 1/3 cup of the olive oil.
- Start to blend them together, slowly adding in the remaining olive oil.
Notes
The avocado (like with guacamole) will start to turn brown in the presence of oxygen. You can add a bit of lemon juice to offset this if you plan on storing it in the refrigerator, or just make less at a time. When using leftover sauce, it may be necessary to stir in some extra olive oil.
I’ve been eating this pesto sauce with spaghetti squash, spread on toast, mixed into veggie stirfries—I even added a dollop of it on top of my scrambled eggs the other morning (so good!). Make a batch, refrigerate the leftovers, and eat it all week long!
Hope everyone has a fun, healthy (semi-healthy?) weekend! 🙂
Hey there! I'm Nicole, a group fitness instructor, healthy lifestyle blogger (you probably figured that one out by now) and Certified Personal Trainer living in Boston, MA.
I’m with you I literally try to put avocado on everything. I really like this idea, seems simple but delicious
Will definitely be trying this! I’m obsessed with avocado!
That looks amazing! We’ve had homemade guacamole twice this week, so needless to say we LOVE some avocado! Great recipe!!
I know people say LOL all the time, but honestly your picture of you moving the furniture made me laugh out loud! Very funny. The recipe looks amazing and I can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing.
~Bre
Haha the things I do during the day for this blog can get real weird–had to share! 🙂
I love pesto & avocados. I can’t wait to try this!!
OMG – that sounds awesome!! I think it looks delicious, too – moving the furniture paid off!!
It was a great workout, too 😉
First of all, that tweet and furniture photo sesh are HILARIOUS! Hahaha…and I completely know how it is. I am pretty sure my neighbours think I’m crazy out there taking photos of my bowl of oatmeal. Too funny.
Secondly, this looks amazing. Bookmarked!
Haha I can’t even make eye contact with my neighbors anymore
I agree COMPLETELY! When it comes to avocados, if it can be added, it should be added! Also, lime!!!
I’m a huge fan of pesto & this looks FABULOUS! Thanks for the recipe!
Keep the avocado pit with the pesto and it prevent browning. I do this all of the time when storing avocado based dishes. 🙂
Oo good tip! 🙂