#vegan pesto
Disclaimer: This recipe might no accessible for everyone, depending on what things cost where you are, or how easily things grow, but hopefully it can spread far and wide.
Uses: I put it on toast, pita bread, tortilla chips, crackers, I use it as a pasta sauce, put it on pizzas instead of cheese, add a dollop to minestrone, it also goes nicely with salads and other antipasto type snacks.
Ingredients(for a batch that makes about four half litre jars full)
- A truly colossal amount of fresh basil. To give you an idea. I usually fill up four ten litre containers with basil from the garden.
- Kale or Spinach (optional) - this will dilute the flavour, but it can be a good filler to make more pesto overall.
- Garlic (preferably fresh) - You can use minced garlic but I find it has a different flavour. You want about half a bulb for a big batch, possibly more if you like garlic or the variety you have is milder.
- Brewers yeast, Savoury yeast, or Nutritional yeast - About a cup for a big batch. You could also try vegan parmesan if you want.
- Vegetable oil - About two cups, but you can adjust to get the consistency you want.
- Cashew nuts - Pinenuts, Pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and similar are all good substitutes.
- Cumin seeds - About a teaspoon (optional but tasty)
- Celery seeds - A pinch (optional but tasty)
- Salt - About a tablespoon
- A cube of veggie stock (optional)
- Method
- Strip the leaves off the stalks. Thin and soft stalks are fine to go in the mix but the thicker harder stalks don’t add to the flavour and they ruin the texture. Any leaves that have gone gross should be thrown in the compost.
- Rinse the leaves in water, drain them in a sieve, gently pat them dry with paper towels or a tea towel and put them through the blender in batches with a bit of oil each time. You’re unlikely to be able to fit everything in the blender at once so transfer batches to a big bowl. Ideally you want everything to be blended down to very very small pieces.
- Add the salt, half the brewers yeast, half the garlic, the nuts/seeds, and the spices to the blender. Run them through the blender with a batch of basil, and transfer to the big bowl. When it’s all been blended, mix everything together with a spoon. Taste test and run more garlic and brewers yeast through the blender and add according to your tastes.
- Store in clean jars (I boil the jars and lids in a pot of water). Try to fill the jars up as high as you can and pour a little oil over the top before sealing. The top few millimetres in each jar will likely oxidise and turn dark once it’s been opened again, this shouldn’t affect the taste but you can just scrape that bit off before using.
