Winter Pesto Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the olive oil in a large pan, add the onion and lardons or bacon and fry for about 5 mins until the onion is starting to brown. Tip in the carrots, celery, potato and garlic, stir well and cook for a few minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, stock and sage, and bring to the boil, stirring. Reduce heat to simmer and cook partly covered for 30 mins, stirring in the cabbage after 15 mins. Drain and rinse the beans and add to the pan with the parsley. Season and serve with pesto croûtes, see right, or crusty bread.
• For the pesto croûtes: Cut 3-4 slices of crusty bread into chunks, about 2cm thick. Tip into an ovenproof pan. Mix the olive oil and pesto, then add to the bread, tossing it with your hands until the croûtes are evenly coated. Bake in a moderate oven for about 10 mins until crisp.

Steps:

• Mince and mash the garlic to a paste with salt.
• In a processor or blender, puree spinach with parsley, oil, walnuts, Parmesan, fennel and garlic paste.
• The pesto keeps, covered with a thin film of olive oil and chilled, up to 2 weeks.
• This makes enough to use with up to 2 ½ lbs of pasta.

Steps:

• Combine first 6 ingredients in processor and blend to coarse puree. Blend in cheese using on/off turns. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Transfer pesto to jar. Pour enough additional oil over pesto to cover completely. Cover and refrigerate. Pour off extra oil before using.)
• Cook linguine in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite. Drain well. Return to same pot. Add pesto sauce and toss to coat pasta evenly. Transfer to large platter. Garnish with chopped pine nuts.

Steps:

• Combine the sunflower seeds and pressed or finely minced garlic in a food processor till crumbly, just slightly chopped. If you have a mini-food processor, it's terrific here!
• Add the parsley and thyme and blend to make it sort of pasty. With the processor still going, drizzle in the oil, and add the salt and pepper. Add a little water to achieve a creamier consistency.
• Freezes very well. Use like basil pesto. I especially like this thinly spread on bread, with tahini and lemin juice.