Whole 30 Spinach Pesto
I love pesto, and always have a stash of it frozen in ice cubes to quickly add to meals. It's just one of my favorite flavors; mixing the zestiness of lemon with a kick of garlic and the creaminess of cashews creates an addicting, spreadable dip or sauce to add to any meal. See below the recipe for a few ideas of how I use pesto!
This pesto is a variation of the spinach pesto found in my cookbook, Nourished. With a little adjusting, I created a new recipe, with all raw ingredients (the pesto in my cookbook is partially cooked), and with all Whole30 compliant ingredients as well. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
- 2 large handfuls spinach
- approx. 20 basil leaves (this would be two .66 oz containers from the store)
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 lemon, squeezed
- 1 cup raw cashews
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup light flavor olive oil, plus more while puréeing
Instructions:
- Soak the cashews in cold water overnight, if you are in a pinch, see note about boiling instead.
- Drain cashews and add all the ingredients to a food processor.
- Purée, drizzling additional olive oil in very slowly until pesto has reached the consistency you like. (think a spreadable paste, rather than a runnier "dressing" as the best consistency)
- You may have to scrape down the sides and continue blending to incorporate everything.
*NOTE: You can also boil the cashews if you are in a pinch, but the pesto comes out much creamier when soaked! Place cashews in a small saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 15 minutes until fork tender and proceed with recipe.
Use this pesto on my Pesto Chicken Salad, as pizza sauce, as a sauce over brown rice pasta and shredded chicken, or even mixed with mayo as a dip! Sounds weird, but don't knock it until you try it ;)