Green liquid gold – pesto

At my house, pesto is something I make at least once a week, and I almost always have some ready in the fridge because it opens up so many possibilities for quick meals. It’s so popular with us that my youngest daughter even named her favorite toy horse “Pesto Pesto Pesto.” New potatoes with pesto are, in fact, one of her favorite meals in the world.

Even though pesto is that important to me, I know most people associate it with that jarred sauce from the store that you toss with pasta. But what if we could look at it with a wider perspective? What if you didn’t even need the store-bought version because homemade pesto takes just a few minutes to whip up? What if we took traditional basil pesto (to the horror of Italian food purists) and turned it into a template where we can swap in different ingredients based on what we have on hand and what we like? And what if we didn’t have to limit it to just pasta?

Here are a few examples of alternative ways to use pesto: as I mentioned, new potatoes with pesto make a fantastic quick dinner.

Couscous flavored with pesto also only takes a few minutes to prepare and serves as a delicious base for a nutritious salad. You can add almost anything to it – from veggies to grilled chicken – and it’s also perfect for lunch boxes.

Pesto is also great as a dip for roasted vegetables. Or how about using pesto to jazz up scrambled eggs or as a filling for savory crepes?

Traditional pesto is made from five ingredients: basil, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and pine nuts. Let’s take that as the base for our template.

• Instead of basil, you can use any other herb or even any leafy green – think baby spinach, kale, or even carrot tops (yes, it sounds a bit wild, but I promise it works).

• Instead of pine nuts (because, honestly, who can afford those?), you can use any other kind of nut or even almonds or seeds, like pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

• You don’t have to stress about using real Parmesan – any similar cheese will do.

• Whether or not you use garlic is completely up to you. Both versions are lovely.

• The only ingredient we won’t change is olive oil. That stays in every version.

I wasn’t great at math in school, but even without calculations, I can see that this template gives us loads of different possibilities.

Traditionally, pesto is made by hand, in a mortar and pestle. That version is wonderful, but as a mom of three hungry little people, I always choose speed and practicality over tradition. So, I prefer to let my trusty kitchen gadgets do the work for me. Just don’t tell anyone in Italy!

You could make it a bit more sophisticated by first blending the herbs with the cheese and then slowly adding the oil to let it emulsify gradually. If you’ve got the time and energy, go for it! But if you want the quick version, you can just toss all the ingredients into the food processor, blend it up until you reach the texture to your liking. Some people prefer their pesto chunkier, while others like it silky smooth and more runny. Once you’ve left behind the traditional version, there are no more rules, and you can make it exactly the way you want.

Don’t be afraid to get creative! Let me know which version you tried and how it turned out!