Lettuce pesto
Medium
Prep 10min Cook -
Lettuce pesto is a perfect recipe to use up your slightly wilted or older lettuce leaves. Its also a great recipe to get rid of any unwanted herbs you may have lying around.
It freezes well and will keep for up to two weeks in the fridge.
I personally love this recipe especially if you are growing your own lettuce and have abundance and can’t keep up with the harvest. You can use any type of mixed leaves and even the softer outer leaves that are not great for a salad. You can add in some of your favorite ingredients such as olives, anchovies, chopped salami, and substitute the parmesan for feta, ricotta and even cream cheese or blue cheese… whatever you have in the fridge.
Use this as a dip, stirred through pasta, tossed through a salad… yes that’s right lettuce pesto with lettuce, you may want to add a splash of vinegar to loosen it up for a dressing. This is also great to spoon through a medley of steamed vegetables. So I will leave it up to your imagination on how many ways you can make use of this tasty pesto… it will also make a great picnic spread for bread or crackers.
Ingredients
- 2 big handful of mixed lettuce leaves ( about 4-5 cups, try and use a mixture of leaves, cos, ice berg, red coral, butter head, red coral, green coral)
- 1 tblsp capers, drained
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- Handful of lemon basil leaves or basil
- 1/3 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
- 1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
- 1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup olive oil, if you want a looser pesto add a little more oil
- Salt
- 1 tblsp lemon juice
Recipe Steps
- Place all the ingredients into a food processor and blend until combined and chopped together.
- Adjust the seasoning and store in an airtight container or jar in the fridge for about 3 weeks. If the top is covered with oil the pesto will stay fresher for longer.