We love the versatility of pesto, particularly in summer cooking where it can be enjoyed with fresh seasonal salads, delicious pasta dishes or even as a sauce for chicken and fish. Whilst the classic pesto alla Genovese is always a winner, we also love to be a bit more experimental when it comes to ingredient combinations. One of our favourite pesto recipes right now is made with almonds and it can involve different herb combinations depending on what you’ve got to hand! Watch the video below to learn how to make this almond pesto directly from our Chef Roberta.
Check out our pesto recipes page for more inspiration.
Make our Delicious Almond Pesto
We love to make our almond pesto with fresh parsley, but we’ve also found that it is delicious when made with basil, so feel free to switch the herbs around a little.
Serves 4
Prep Time: 15 mins
Calories per serving: 188kcal
Ingredients
- 4 cups fresh parsley
- 2-3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup Parmigiano Reggiano, grated (In lieu of this DOP product, use any Italian hard cheese you have to hand)
- ¼ cup almonds, blanched or toasted
- 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
- Salt, to taste
Method
- If you would like your pesto to have a slightly deeper flavour, you can toast your almonds for this recipe. Alternatively, using blanched almonds will make it easier to blend your pesto if you’re doing this part by hand.
- Start by blanching or gently toasting the almonds. To blanch, simply put them in a pan of boiling water for about a minute and then remove and drain them and peel off their skins.
- To toast, place the nuts in a dry frying pan over medium-high heat until fragrant and slightly browned in colour. Be sure to keep them moving to prevent burning, and remove any that do burn before adding to the parsley, as they will give the pesto a burnt flavour.
- Put the parsley, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, crushed garlic cloves and 2 tablespoons of the extra virgin olive oil into a pestle and mortar and grind until creamy. You could also use a food processor or blender for this part, though the texture will be a little smoother.
- Add the almonds and grind (or blitz) until they start to break down and combine with the oil and parsley mixture. You end up with a creamy yet slightly chunky consistency.
- Drizzle the remaining olive oil and continue to grind until you have a creamy paste. We recommend leaving it a little rustic as this will help it adhere to the pasta.
- The pesto is best eaten straight away, but can be kept in clean jars and stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.
If you fancy something a little lighter and more summery our almond & mint pesto is fresh and bright, a perfect recipe for the warmer months.
Ingredients
- ¼ cup blanched almonds
- 1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1tbsp lemon zest
- 4 cups fresh mint leaves
- 2tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Method
- Combine all of the ingredients in a pestle and mortar, or use a blender if you want to save time, and grind or blitz until they are thoroughly mixed and you have a thick paste.
- Serve with pasta or salad for a perfect summer picnic dish!
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