Feta Pistachio Mint Pesto is beautifully bright, fresh and creamy. Ideal as a drizzle over grilled meat or roasted veggies.
My season of revisiting classic recipes from the blog continues with this Feta Pistachio Mint Pesto. I have no doubt that this pesto completely passed you by even if you have been reading my witterings here from its early incarnations. Remember Stroud Green Larder? Yes, that was my original name for my business when I began it five years ago which fitted well with my market stall which was based in Stroud Green, North London but alienated all my blog followers, especially those to whom Stroud Green was a pretty random name. I’m not even sure the majority of Londoners necessarily know of Stroud Green, the little stretch between Finsbury Park and Crouch End.
Sometimes when I’m feeling especially reflective I wonder if From The Larder is even the best choice of name, a name which I really fought to get, especially since my market stall is focused more on the cake side of things. Although I can’t let myself go too far down that road since I’ve come this far with it and I’m not about to change everything again, it was challenging enough changing the name of my blog and business the first time.
So, this Feta Pistachio Mint Pesto, if you’re still with me, was originally developed as an accompaniment to a roasted butternut squash mash recipe where this pesto was drizzled liberally over the top. That dish was out of this world but I could never get the photographs right, it looked like some big old gory mess. Then this pesto soon broke out into a life of its own in my kitchen as I started to accompany it with everything. Drizzled over lamb chops, roasted potatoes or used as the base in this Simple Brown Rice Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette. It became one of my weeknight mainstays and yet was buried within my blog in unsightly photos and an early post which was largely ignored.
Therefore I am pretty sure I am introducing this Feta Pistachio Mint Pesto as if it were the first time. It is a bright and fresh pesto with so many layers of flavour. The feta and pistachio give a fresh creaminess and sweet savouriness to the proceedings whilst the mint provides lovely bite with a zing of lemon to bring everything into harmony. I make it with the best feta I can find, there is a great feta and olive guy at Ally Pally farmers’ market, and fresh garden mint.
Feta Pistachio Mint Pesto
Ingredients
- 80 g shelled roasted salted pistachios
- 30 g fresh mint* leaves removed from stalks
- 15 g parsley including stalks
- 1 clove garlic
- 80 g feta
- Juice of ½ lemon
- black pepper
- 150 ml extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Place the pistachios in a food processor and blitz until finely ground.
- Add the mint, parsley and garlic and blitz again until chopped very finely.
- Scoop the feta into the food processor, squeeze in the lemon, and grind in some black pepper then whizz up again so that all the ingredients come together to form a thick paste.
- Then with the food processor still on, stream in the olive oil slowly so that it incorporates into the paste and forms a smooth pesto.
Nutrition
SHOP THE RECIPE
I would be nowhere without my Magimix 4200XL Food Processor – Satin
which I bought when I was so jealous of everyone making their own houmous and pestos. That was easily over ten years ago and I use it nearly every day for all manner of kitchen jobs like whipping up dips, nut butters and flours, making breadcrumbs and of course for houmous and pesto. The Magixmix is an impressive piece of kit which even survived being dropped when we moved into our house (although it did have to have the motor replaced but that wasn’t too expensive). I put all the attachments in the dishwasher and they come out brilliantly clean but it also gives just great results. I love my Magimix and along with my Kitchenaid is the piece of equipment I use most often in my kitchen.
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If you like this recipe then you may like…
Simple Brown Rice Salad with Pesto Vinaigrette
Tahini Turmeric Dressing
Homemade Smoky Fajita Seasoning Paste
. It’s one of my most favourite kitchen appliances and I use it almost daily. This blender is amazing! I loved the Kitchenaid blender I had before but my Vitamix produces the smoothest smoothies, most cohesive sauces and fantastic soups. I have been using it most frequently at the moment for making my iced matcha lattes and I now could not be without it. Okay, it isn’t cheap but if you have the budget for it and you are looking to be really spoilt then I really recommend it. Plus I love the colour!!
on a whim but it’s been absolutely brilliant and was very reasonable so I heartily recommend it.
So stepping up to the plate is one of my absolute faves. It’s probably the one I make the most often of a weekday. So easy to throw together in the roasting tray straight after work. Whack it in the oven, have a sit down with a glass of sparkling water, as it’s January, then serve with anything you like. I have it the most with grilled lamb chops. It might also be even better the next day taken out of the fridge and brought up to room temperature to have at your desk for lunch, I would never bother re-heating this. I have eaten it with leftovers, with roast chicken, with garlicky yoghurt drizzled generously over and taken it to picnics.
Due to the amount of oil that the aubergine soaks up it’s very rich and so you don’t need a great deal, not that I usually let that stop me.
Hello, so lovely of you to drop by. I am Georgina. I bake a lot, eat a lot and love writing about my gluten-free kitchen adventures here. I run a gluten-free cake business and have a stall at the local farmer’s market selling my cakes and preserves. I have 2 cats, 1 dog, 1 husband, a delightful toddler who runs me ragged and a newborn baby boy.
