Cilantro and Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Cilantro.  You either love it or hate it.  If you love it, I am about to become your new best friend.  What?  You already have a best friend!  Well, did your current best friend share with you a cilantro pesto recipe that quite possibly is the best cilantro pesto recipe on the planet?  See.  I thought so.

So, new best bud, guess what I did this week?  Yep.  I cleaned out my vegetable crisper drawer.  All I can say is thank goodness those plastic bags can safely hold liquid, which is what some of the veggies had become.  One of things I discovered besides liquefied dill, parsley, and lettuce were  3 bags of cilantro.  Because apparently I have a terrible fear of being without cilantro (which is entirely understandable).  So, I spent the next twenty minutes or so perusing through my cookbooks figuring out what to do with my cilantro mother load.   It was only twenty minutes because I stopped as soon as I found Cilantro and Pumpkin Seed Pesto in The Herbfarm Cookbookby Jerry Traunfeld.  I had everything I needed, pumpkin seeds in the freezer and a fresh jalapeño just waiting to be picked. 

OMG.  This was amazing.  Seriously, seriously amazing.  You could use this on anything, it could go on grilled fish, or chicken, or meat.  It could be used as a salsa over nachos or tacos.   Stirred into pasta or to dress veggies.  Or you could simply stand at your counter and just spoon it into your mouth, while you pretend that you are just tasting it to make sure it’s seasoned right.  

Cilantro and Pumpkin Seed Pesto

• 1/4 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
• 2 cups (gently packed) fresh cilantro leaves and tender sprigs
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 teaspoons seeded and coarsely chopped jalapeno pepper (I left the seeds in because I am bold)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Toast the pumpkin seeds in a small dry skillet over medium heat.  When you hear the first seed pop, start stirring or shaking the pan continuously.  The pumpkin seeds will puff up.  When most of the seeds are puffed up, pour the seeds on a paper towel to cool.

In a food processor process the seeds and all of the ingredients except the olive oil until it’s finely ground.  Then pour the olive oil in a smooth steady stream, until the mixture is creamy and fairly smooth. 

(I then stored mine in cute little glass jars in the freezer, so that I can have this whenever I want, which will be all the time!)

 

 

This will be my entry for Weekend Herb Blogging hosted by Anh from Food Lover's Journey.

Cookbook used:

P.S. Did you notice!?! It's only taken me years and years and years, but I finally figured out how to put a picture in my header. Yay me! Expect small cosmetic changes as I figure out how to do other things!