Bazil pesto

sticky232, Jan 21, 9:39am
didnt i see a photo somewhere were you can stir in bazil pesto to spaghetti type pasta anybody tried it and what was it like
245sam, Jan 21, 9:47am
sticky232, basil pesto is lovely stirred through freshly cooked pasta - we enjoy it with the addition also of courgette, tomato (particularly cherry tomatoes) and salmon; but just the pesto and pasta is nice too. :-))
fifie, Jan 21, 9:52am
Same sam , make the pesto when i have plenty of basil growing and its yum through pasta etc.
niffer13, Jan 21, 7:59pm
I freeze my home made pesto on small amounts then place in pasta when I have strained & it is hot - pesto thaws quickly. I usually add sour cream a little milk plus onion & bacon chopped & fried. Also those bier sticks chopped up are a nice addition. Very tasty think I will have that for dinner tonight.
..james.., Jan 22, 6:31am
Yum! I am a pesto lover, Make a batch for the family every 2 or 3 days to stir through pasta, put in wraps, on chicken,toast, eggs you name it. I make it from basil, coriander, parsley and a mix of these sometimes. Its a great way for kids to get some fresh goodness into them too if they balk at some veges.
go pesto!
skydancing, Jan 22, 6:50am
I am not allowed nuts so any suggestions on a basil pesto that I could make would be most appreciated. Cheers.

Edited to say I could probably have nuts that have been made smooth if that makes sense.
245sam, Jan 22, 6:56am
skydancing, I was going to suggest sunflower seeds as an alternative to nuts in pesto for you but from your posted edit, I am assuming (correctly hopefully) that it's not the nuts themselves but any chunkiness that is the problem for you therefore using sunflower seeds would not necessarily solve the problem for you. :-))
skydancing, Jan 22, 6:59am
Unfortunately yes 245sam sigh it is the chunkiness. not an allergy as such. Makes it hard with some recipes.
245sam, Jan 22, 7:16am
skydancing, just a thought.

A while ago I bought on special a jar of basil and garlic paste (not sure if it's still available now). From memory it was basically just as its name suggests i.e. basil and garlic but it tasted so like basil pesto that it was an excellent substitute, so I'm wondering how it would be for you to make pesto as usual but without any nuts. For those of us who can and do enjoy the chunkiness of pesto it wouldn't have the same appeal but IMO it would mean that you could enjoy your own version of pesto - I definitely don't believe that using sunflower seeds would be any better option for you. :-))
lilyfield, Jan 22, 7:37am
i would use a bit of crispy breadcrumbs instead of nuts , if you are allowed those, op.
autumnwinds, Jan 22, 7:38am
. or could you use say a peanut butter paste (or cashew nuts, which I use in my pesto, in preference to pine nuts - cheaper and creamier)? Or use whatever nuts in one of the newest "grinder-type machines (ninja, etc) or even grind it much finer in a mortar and pestle?

As someone above, I also freeze a lot of my pesto (I make heaps each year), flat in sandwich/snack size snaplock bags - they sit tidily in the ffreezer (take up very little space, and always ready for pasta, or half a bag into a casserole near serving to "zap" it up in flavour.
skydancing, Jan 23, 5:19am
Thanks everyone I am going to try the garlic and basil and possibly some creamy type of peanut butter and see how it goes. Cheers all.
annies3, Apr 28, 2:41am
I have some in the fridge right now which doesn't have nuts in it, (only because I never had any ) big handful of basil, fresh mint leaves, about half as much, through a processor, add condiments to suit ie salt pepper a wee bit of garlic couple of tablespoons of mayonnaise tsp of whole grain mustard, a few drops of oil, it was so yum I would make it again any time, would go well with pasta as well.