I'm kind of a pesto geek. I regularly make classic basil pesto, garlic pesto, and coriander pesto. Just before frost, I've been known to go on a basil pesto frenzy, making over 30 cups of the stuff, which I carefully store in the freezer for winter feasts and holiday gifts. I even have a box in the pantry labeled "pesto containers." For me, pesto is more than a sauce, it's an art.
Julie Martens Forney
This year, faced with a plethora of pumpkin seeds (thanks to using homegrown pumpkin for holiday pies), I decided to mix basil with pumpkin seeds to create a true fall harvest dish. The results are nothing short of delicious, and a great option for those with nut allergies.
The ingredients
Julie Martens Forney
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves, washed and dried
- ½ cup dry roasted pumpkin seeds
- 2-4 garlic cloves, peeled (use 2 large German Hard Extra Garlic cloves, and up to 4 smaller standard red/purple grain red garlic cloves)
- 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
- Freshly ground pepper (one good grind per batch)
- up to ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- Optional:1 very small handful of walnuts (or your favorite nut) to taste
Directions
Julie Martens Forney
Place basil leaves, pumpkin seeds, garlic, cheeses, and pepper in a food container fitted with a chopping blade. (Add walnuts if using.) Press until materials are chopped and combined. With the engine running, slowly pour in olive oil. Process until ingredients are well combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or more during mixing if the ingredients seem to be skirting the blade.
You can also make this pesto in a blender. Start with smaller amounts of material, gradually adding more as the materials are cut and reduced.
This recipe makes about a cup of pumpkin seed pesto. How to use it? If you can stop eating it as you make it, try tossing the pesto with couscous or quinoa, spreading it on top of the pizza crust as a base topping and tossing it into frittatas. We also love it with fresh green beans. Of course, pesto sings like a classic bruschetta or pasta sauce. This recipe easily sauces a pound of pasta.
Preparation Tips
Julie Martens Forney
- Spray seeds. In my first batch of pumpkin seed pesto, I occasionally came across a chunky chunk of seed, which was a bit awkward to bite into. For subsequent batches, I tossed seeds into a coffee grinder and pulsed on a medium grind until the seed coats were broken up. Including the seed layers adds maximum nutrition to this dish.
- Think outside the pumpkin. Don't strictly limit yourself to pumpkin seeds. All winter squash, including acorn, butternut, delicata, spaghetti, turban, Marina di Chioggia, and all the rest of that wonderful winter squash family, offer seeds that work well in pesto. The only caveat is that the larger the seed, the more likely you are to shed the seed coat. If you're not sure, take a bite out of the seed. If the coating is too hard to chew, shell the seeds before adding them to the pesto. You can also make this using pepitas, the meaty interior of pumpkin seeds that are sold in the supermarket. My choice is fresh seeds because we grow and eat a lot of winter squash.
- Dry roasted seeds. To roast the pumpkin seeds, heat in a skillet over medium heat until the seeds begin to sprout. Or try roasting in a low oven (200°F) for 60 minutes. Spread the seeds out in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet for best results.
- Use whatever basil you have. Traditional wisdom says to use unflowered basil, because the flavor of the leaf changes once the flower buds form. The flavor changes, but I find that the late-season basil that has flowers offers a refreshing crispness that pairs perfectly with the Romano cheese. If you prefer a sweeter pesto, avoid using leaves after flowering.
- Choose your cheese. All kinds of cheese work in pesto, so choose your favorite and substitute at will. Good choices include Parmesan, asiago, Romano, aged gouda, cheddar, and Manchego.
- Salt or no salt? I don't add salt to my pesto because the cheeses are already salty enough for our palates. If you want more salt, add a pinch or two before a final hum in the processor.
- Add oil slowly. I start with 1/4 cup of EVOO and add just enough to keep the batch moist. Keeping the pesto on the dry side reduces the freezing volume. As you thaw each batch of pesto, add the EVOO as needed, whisking it into the pesto until it reaches the ideal consistency for whatever dish you're making.
- Save something for a wintery day. Freeze pesto in ice cube trays for a quick garden-fresh refresher when making pasta sauces and soups for the winter. Store frozen cubes in a double freezer zipper bag to prevent flavoring of other items in the freezer. For gifts or larger portions (like eating with a spoon during a snowstorm), freeze them in half-cup containers with tight-fitting lids.
