Nothing more rewarding than a good pesto. Applicable in so many different ways. No more from jars or packets but home made with crisp fresh produce and the very best olive oil is just the tastiest!

For all pestos, you can salt it with either coarse sea salt/ table salt, anchovies (about 3 per recipe) but my favorite is to use fish sauce. I always use Italian fish sauce (Asian can also be used) and I find this makes the flavor more powerful and fuller. But this is so up-to-you!

The traditional version is of course the pesto that everyone has eaten and made before. Indispensable in Italian cuisine. In addition, I'm going to give you other versions so that your PASTA/PESTO THURSDAY every week will still be different.

PESTO NUMBER 1 - TRADITIONAL

Ingredients

• Large handful of basil
• 50 gr. toasted pine nuts
• juice of 1 large lemon
• piece of parmesan cheese 50 grams
• generous hand of arugula
• add fish sauce or salt
• coarsely ground pepper
• 1 generous garlic clove
• 4 tablespoons olive oil (more if it needs to be even more creamy)

How to

Blend everything together in food processor or with hand blender and READY!

PESTO NUMBER 2 - ARTICHOKE - WALNUT - TRUFFLE

Ingredients

• Canned artichoke, drained and rinsed
• Large handful of arugula
• Walnuts 50 grams
• Good quality olive oil 3 tablespoons and 1 tablespoon truffle oil With the latter, it is extremely important that you choose good quality. So NOT supermarket quality, otherwise you better leave it out. Also delicious by the way!
• Parmesan cheese 50 grams
• Pepper and salt to taste

How to

Blend everything together in food processor or with hand blender and READY!

PESTO NUMBER 3 - RED PESTO

Ingredients

• Pot grilled red bell bell pepper drained, 300 grams
• Large handful of arugula
• Sun-dried tomatoes 50 grams
• Toasted pine nuts 50 grams
• Feta cheese 100 grams
• 1 garlic clove
• Dried thyme 1 teaspoon
• juice of half lime (if not much juice comes out use the whole lime)
• salt and pepper to taste
• olive oil good quality 4 tablespoons

As for the feta, the can also replace it with parmesan cheese. This makes it a bit more intense in flavor but also a bit firmer in texture. I really like the feta cheese through this. Works really well through a pasta.

How to

Blend everything together in food processor or with hand blender and READY!

PESTO NUMBER 4 - HERBAL PESTO

Ingredients

• juice of 1 lime
• hand basil
• handful of chives
• hand of flat parsley
• hand coin
• 50 gr roasted hazelnuts
• 50 gr parmesan cheese
• 1 garlic clove
• 4 tablespoons olive oil extra virgin olive oil
• salting with sea salt or fish sauce
• coarsely ground black pepper

How to

Blend everything together in food processor or with hand blender and READY!

PESTO NUMBER 5 - BEET PESTO

You can buy the red beets pre-packaged, or in jars, but the best thing is to roast them yourself. Is super simple by the way! Wash them well, rub them with olive oil and put them in a preheated oven at 200 degrees for an hour. Then turn off the oven and let them cool in the oven. You can very easily peel off the skin after this and process them into a pesto. Use this pesto in a quinoa salad with green vegetables. As a sauce with a piece of chicken breast or without the pine nuts as a dip for crudités or with Turkish bread.

In this dish, it is an appetizer with smoked salmon and Dutch shrimp and fresh dill. Super tasty and beautiful and easy dish.

Ingredients

• 300 grams of beets
• 150 grams of feta cheese
• handful of dill
• 4 tablespoons of olive oil extra virgin
• 3 stalks of spring onion (white part)
• 50 grams of toasted pine nuts

How to

Blend everything together in food processor or with hand blender and READY!