I am obsessed with this recipe right now. It’s everything I want in the middle of the day.. fresh, a little cheesy & salty, goes perfectly with something crunchy. OH my goodness. In the past week I’ve made it three times. One of those times was last minute for my book club because I felt like I needed an extra snack. That’s another reason why I love it. I usually have all the ingredients & it takes about 5 minutes to assemble.
I got the idea for this recipe from a segment on the Today Show. They were talking about making things that are usually expensive & making them a little bit cheaper. In their version, they were using peas as a filler, but the idea was to still be typical tasting pesto. I wanted the peas to be the stars. If you didn’t know already, I love frozen peas! I’ll put them with almost anything! But I hate canned peas. Never will I eat them. NEVER!
That got aggressive. Anyways, I hope you love frozen peas as much as I do so you get to enjoy this recipe as well.
It’s really simple. All I did was add my ingredients to a food processor ( first just my peas, walnuts, basil, salt, pepper & lemon juice ), then turn the food processor on while drizzling about ¼ cup olive oil slowly.
After it’s all blended well, add the cheese. I kinda like to keep it a little chunky with the cheese, but you could keep blending to make it smoother.
That’s it! So delicious! I loved it with crackers & of course pasta. For the pasta, I just added a little pasta water to thin out the pesto. I also added it as my filler for meatballs making them gluten free & delicious! I can add that recipe soon or it’s also saved on my Instagram! ( @e_llyn )
I know I’ve already hammered this in, but really.. this stuff is completely amazing! Like I said, I made it last minute for book club & everyone loved it!
Make it for your book club, baby shower, game night.. or heck, just for yourself! It’s so, so good!
Bon Appetit!
ellyn
INGREDIENTS:
Always – salt & pepper
- 1 cup frozen peas
- ½ cup raw walnuts
- ¼ cup fresh basil
- Juice ½ lemon, about a tablespoon
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ⅓ cup parmesan – grating yourself will always give you the best flavor!
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Add first 4 ingredients to a food processor. Season to taste w/ salt & pepper. I like a lot of pepper with this!
- Pulse while slowly adding olive oil.
- After combined, add the parmesan ( either grated or cut into chunks ) & pulse until desired consistency.
- Enjoy with crackers or pasta! ( add a little pasta water to thin out pesto to make it a sauce! ) or really by itself on a spoon is fine too. Don’t ask me how I know this.
