I often make homemade pesto without pine nuts but never without garlic. It was a hectic day and it was going to be my first day working at a friends office. I work as a freelancer and I live alone (except when the kids come to sleep) and I can go for days without any adult conversation. Great for adding a boost of flavour to ham hock, pea and pesto soup.
I had seen the idea of sharing office space with someone on a freelancer Facebook page. A perfect idea to keep me motivated and my sanity as well. So luckily my friends work from a home office and some day have a spare desk. Yes back to the pesto, I was in a rush so I made the pesto quickly. Then grabbed my laptop and took the kids to school and then up to the office.
Pesto Without Garlic
I had also made some couscous with roasted chicken wings. Yes I was hoping I could share the office again. When I placed them on the table Kate asked what the green suff was. I told her my homemade pesto, “I don’t like pesto” Kate replied but I will try some.
Well dinner time came and Kate tried a little, to her own surprise she actually liked it. The she asked did I put garlic in it , erm I usually do but I wasn’t sure this time. Actually it did taste like pesto without garlic, which I may add isn’t a bad thing. Or did I put in the roasted garlic I did with the chicken wings ? Or did the roasted garlic just go in the couscous. I wasn’t sure.
When I got home the mystery was solved, the garlic cloves I intended to use were still on the kitchen side.
Walnuts For Pesto & Other Nuts
This actually came about because I could not find my pine nuts anywhere. Just moved house and I wasn’t sure if I brought them or they were at the future ex wife. Never mind I had walnuts so I toasted them up and now more often than not I now use Walnuts in pesto.
On I side note have you every tried pickled walnuts ? They go great in my Onion chutney with dates and walnuts. Sometimes I also use pecan in my pesto, yep what ever is in the cupboard nut wise gets experimented with for a pesto.
First toast the walnuts and pecans in a frying pan for around 4 mins to release the oils Now add the nuts to the food processor and pulse until the nuts are ground The add the rest of the ingredients of cheese basil and oil and whiz If you are lucky enough to have a food processor with a hole in the lid ad the oil a little at a time until you reach your desired constancy. Serve Pesto is so versatile you can add it to salad, grilled meats and pasta 
Ingredients
Instructions
Notes
Celebrities Walnut Pesto
It wasn’t until after researching for this post that pesto with walnuts was an actual thing. It seems everyone has a recipe of this simple pesto. Jamie Oliver Pesto, Mary Berry Pesto everybody has one so you have to make one and make it your own, It Is so simple and quick to make your own pesto.
How To Make Pesto
Time needed: 5 minutes.
How do you make pesto
- First decide what nuts you want to use
you can use pine nuts, walnuts or pean nuts
- Toast the walnuts, pecan and pine nuts
you can do this either in a dry frying pan or you can roast them in the oven for 10 minutes
- Adding the toasted nuts to the blender
add the toasted nuts and whizz up until fine
- adding the Parmesan cheese
now add your hard cheese to the blender and whiz. preferable Parmesan or pecorino cheese
- Adding the Basil
now add the basil to the blender and give a quick whiz
- Adding the olive oil
now add the olive oil to the walnuts cheese and basil. Also season with salt and pepper, the oil is to your desired consistency
Everything You Wanted To Know About Making Pesto
Pesto is a simple blend of nuts, cheese, basil and olive oil
The most common nut that is used in pesto is pine nuts
Yes you can use other nuts than pine nuts. Walnuts are often used to make pesto. You can also use walnuts to make pesto. Sometimes Pecans are used to make pesto. You can also use almonds to make pesto. Pistachio nuts are also used to make pesto as well. all these nuts are a good substitute for pine nuts and are usually not as expensive as pine nuts
Traditionally basil is used to make pesto
Yes Basil can be substituted when making pesto. Parsley can be used to make pesto. Tarragon can be used to make pesto. Mint is a great substitute for basil for pesto. Sage can also be used to make pesto. Coriander also works well with a pesto Any soft herbs that you can grow
no you can make pesto without garlic.
Yes you can roast the garlic first and this makes the garlic taste so much less. You can also boil garlic in water and it retains the flavour but it isn’t as pungent
Olive oil is traditionally used to make pesto but you can use a variety of oils. You can use vegetable oil to make pesto. Sunflower oil can be substituted for olive oil. Canola oil can also be substituted for olive oil
Yes using different oils will effect the taste of your pesto. Vegetable oil virtual no taste at all. Thats fine because the herbs and nuts bring the flavour.
Yes you can use other cheeses when making pesto. Gruyere, Parmesan, Pecorino, Asiago, Romano and Cotija can be substituted if Parmigiano-Reggiano isn’t a cheese readily available
Great recipes to use your pesto on. Any pasta of course Puttanesca would be perfect