Nasturtium Pesto

4.16 from 25 votes

Slightly peppery nasturtium leaves, pistachios, and Parmesan cheese get blended together for a fast, fresh take on pesto.

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time5 mins

Total Time10 mins

Servings: people

Calories: 165kcal

Ingredients

50 large nasturtium leaves or twice as many if small
¼ cup pistachios or favorite nut
½ cup olive oil
½ cup Parmesan cheese
1 pinch red pepper optional
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Wash the nasturtium leaves and shake them dry (they can be slightly wet).
Toast the nuts (it intensifies their flavor and I love it) - put them in a dry pan over medium heat, stirring every 30 seconds or so. Cook for 2-3 minutes - until they start to smell good. Then take them off the heat, or they will burn (fast!)
Fill your food processor up ¾ of the way, loosely, with leaves. Blend until they are chopped. Add more leaves, blend. Continue this until all of the leaves are blended up.
Add in the pistachios and blend until finely chopped.
Add in the cheese, red pepper and half the oil. Blend.
Add more oil until it's the desired consistency. This will highly depend on how much nasturtium you used.
Taste. Add salt, black pepper, more nuts or more cheese until you like how it tastes.

Notes

This is a loose form recipe. Use as much nasturtium as you pick. I filled a regular sized colander with leaves, slightly packed. It resulted in 2 cups of pesto.

You could add basil for a more traditional pesto flavor.

Nutrition