Pea and Walnut Pesto

A fresh and vibrant dish, this pea and walnut pesto uses items typically found in the fridge/pantry. The end is a spring pesto perfect for pasta and dips.

A Fridge Full of Food but Nothing to Eat

My husband is notorious for standing in front of the fridge and exclaiming “there’s nothing to eat in here”.

Let me just fill you in on a little secret – our fridge, pantry, and freezer are never bare. They just happen to be filled with ingredients rather than ready to eat foods at times.

But I’m sure we’ve all been there. There are many times when I don’t have a certain ingredient I need for a recipe. So instead, I’ll just scratch the whole idea and make something else. Or scratch all ideas and order takeout.

Spring Cleaning the Fridge

That’s why it’s perfect timing that this month’s The Recipe Redux theme is to Spring Clean in the Kitchen. “Cook with at least 3 ingredients that are actually in your refrigerator or pantry right now. Try not to go to the store to buy anything new”.

This is a great chance to use up those items in your kitchen that are always typically on hand. The ones you don’t use very often.

For me, I typically have the following items in my kitchen –

• frozen peas
• walnuts or almonds
• parmesan cheese
• olive oil

Pea and Walnut Pesto

I read somewhere that you can use frozen peas in pesto in place of basil. I thought this would be the perfect time to try that.

Instead of using pine nuts, I decided to try using walnuts instead. They are less exspensive than pine nuts and I typically have them on hand.

The frozen peas give the pesto a sweet, light flavor, not to mention a vibrant green color.

This pesto is delicious on pasta, served with veggies as a dip or even spread on toasted bread.

Definitely something I will tell my husband he can make in minutes the next time he claims there is no food in the house.

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Pea and Walnut Pesto

A fresh and vibrant dish, this pea and walnut pesto uses items typically found in the fridge/pantry. The end is a spring pesto perfect for pasta and dips. 

Course Appetizer, dip, pesto, sauce, spread

Cuisine American, Mediterranean

Keyword appetizer, dip, parmesan, peas, pesto, sauce, spread, spring, walnuts

Prep Time 10 minutes minutes

Total Time 10 minutes minutes

Servings 2 cups

Author Brynn at The Domestic Dietitian

Ingredients

• 2 cups frozen peas defrosted
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 1 lemon juiced
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

• Place the peas, walnuts, garlic, parmesan cheese and lemon juice in a food processor
• Blend until well pureed
• With the processor still running, slowly add the olive oil until you reach the desired level of thickness in your pesto
• Season with salt and pepper to taste (pulse ingredients together again after adding salt and pepper)

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