Lemony Spinach Pepita Pesto

by Valerie on May 16, 2010 · 4 comments

 It has occurred to me it has been way too long since I have shared a recipe with you.  And seeing as two of my favorite blogs, Affairs of Living and Diets, Desserts and Dogs, have picked spinach as the key ingredient for their S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge this month, and I so happen to have a newly created spinach pesto, well, it was time to share.

Pumpkin seed pesto 
I made this pesto because I  bought sorrel at the market, and decided that it would complement spinach wonderfully – I love how spinach makes a pesto a bit earthy, and coupled with the lemon flavors of the sorrel, and some additional lemon juice, is this perfect balance of earthy yet bright.  You cam absolutely substitute additional spinach for the sorrel, and maybe up the lemon juice a bit, if you would like.  I have made this pesto several times since its initial run through a couple of weeks ago, and I love it just as much without the sorrel as with it.

Lemony Spinach Pepita Pesto (Vegan, Gluten-free, Nut-Free)
Makes about one cup
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas, be sure to buy shelled ones, which are dark green)
3 cloves of garlic
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (I used the juice of one lemon)
3 cups of spinach
1 cup of sorrel (can substitute extra spinach)
1/2 to 1 tablespoon of red miso (I used this adzuki miso, but feel free to use any miso. If you use white miso, up the quantity to 1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor or blender, chop the pumpkin seeds and garlic until fine, add rest of ingredients other than extra-virgin olive oil.  Turn food processor back on and drizzle olive oil slowly into the chopped up ingredients. 

Use pesto to top pasta, grains, tofu or whatever else suits your fancy – in the picture above I had it with tofu and quinoa (yes, I know, I am obsessed with cold pesto over warm steamy quinoa), but I also had this pesto with some Alaskan salmon, which was delicious.  The S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge requests vegan recipes, so I was not going to put up a picture of the pesto on salmon, but really, whatever you use pesto on, use this pesto – it’s wonderful and complex.  Also, I know for a fact this pesto is vegan, gluten-free and nut-free, but it might be suitable for other restricted diets, so please feel free to email me or post in the comments if you think it would fit in other categories as well.

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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }

1 Ricki May 18, 2010 at 12:27 am

Valerie,
This pesto sounds fantastic! I'm thrilled that it's also ACD friendly, so I could whip up a batch and indulge asap. :) Thanks so much for entering the recipe in the SOS Challenge.

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2 Kim May 18, 2010 at 5:05 am

I love sorrel! This looks wonderful. So many of my favorite ingredients all in one place! Thanks for contributing, this will be a great addition to the round up. :) I bet it is wonderful on salmon – I absolutely adore salmon in all forms!

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3 Ivy May 18, 2010 at 6:29 pm

The pesto sounds delicious.

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4 Carolyn May 21, 2010 at 7:21 am

YUMMY!!! I love pepitas!

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