Basil Parsley Macadamia Pesto

Pesto is a great sauce to have on hand. I do so much with it, and have made it many different ways, from using basil and parsley to spinach and carrot tops, and with pine nuts, almonds, and walnuts. All these years though I thought pesto was a healthy thing. Now knowing nuts are loaded with PUFA’s and olive oil too, I thought I’d have to give up pesto. Well I didn’t give it up. I make it with macadamias now, and it is better than ever. I cut out a lot of the olive oil too in my new healthier pesto.

Start by washing a whole bunch of fresh parsley, or half parsley and half basil. Pick the leaves off of the stems and measure two lightly packed cups worth. Next blanch two cloves of garlic, in a small saucepot of boiling water, for about a minute. Transfer the garlic to a cutting board, and chop it up. Next crush1/4 cup of macadamias in a baggie with the flat back of a mallet. Macadamias are just too cumbersome to chop with a knife, and this is my easy way.

Put the greens in a small food processor, or a little blender. and add in the macadamias, the peel of one large lemon, some of it’s juice, at least a one tablespoon worth, 2 tablespoons of good extra virgin olive oil, 2 tablespoons of water, the chopped garlic, a 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1-ounce of grated parmesan. Blend this to desired consistency. I made this the other night and had it on my dinner of buttered boiled red potatoes, with a squeeze of Meyer’s lemon. Before I was even done, I was already planning to have this combo again sooner than later. It was so delicious!