parsley pesto

filed under:
parsley pasta garlic pesto

Delicious recipes are included in each issue of the South Anchorage Farmers' Market Newsletter, be sure to sign up!
subscribe to newsletter via rss • subscribe to recipes via rss • subscribe to newsletter via email
download the print-friendly version of this recipe

You can use this pesto for the Savoy cabbage & potatoes with pesto recipe, or you can just put this on pasta. I’ve used it to spread on pizza dough, too, as a sauce. It’s great! And parsley is a lot more affordable than basil, too. 

Whatever you do, don’t use curly parsley. It has hardly any flavor, and the texture is awful, no matter how long you puree it.

2 cloves garlic
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
4 cups packed Italian (flat-leaved) parsley leaves
½ cup pine nuts
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil

1. In a food processor, chop the garlic with the salt.
2. Add the parsley leaves and pine nuts, and turn on the motor, beginning to grind the parsley. It’s OK if all the leaves aren’t incorporated yet.
3. While the motor is running, pour in the olive oil gradually. Let the blade run for a while to puree the mixture. It won’t be very smooth, but it’s hard to get the parsley pesto smooth, anyway—the leaves are very tough, and it’s almost impossible to get the blender to get it smooth. 
4. Taste for salt, and add more as needed.
5. Use what you’d like for tonight’s dinner, then scoop the rest into a freezer ziplock bag and freeze flat.

To serve on pasta:
Put a generous dollop of pesto in the bottom of a large bowl. When the pasta is about done cooking, scoop a few spoons-ful of the pasta cooking water into the pesto and stir it up until it has the consistency of heavy cream (add more water until it’s just right).  Then add the pasta and toss with the pesto until well-combined. Add more pesto (diluted with hot pasta cooking water) until the pasta is nicely green and is flavored to your liking. Don’t be afraid to add a lot--the parsley pesto is less potent than basil pesto (but quite delicious in its own right).