Pesto Rosso
Pesto Rosso! You’re probably thinking, “Isn’t pesto supposed to be green?” Well, not exactly. You’re thinking of Pesto Alla Genovese, the most popular child in the Pesto family, made primarily of fresh basil, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmigiano reggiano (parmesan cheese). But no good parent picks favorites (not publicly at least)! Pesto Rosso is the rebellious sibling. Nixing the fresh basil, pine nuts, and parmigiano reggiano, Pesto Rosso welcomes sun-dried tomatoes, almonds (we’ll revisit that), red chili flakes, garlic, and rosemary to the table. Pesto Rosso not only packs an incredible amount of flavor to accompany a warm bowl of pasta, a crisp crostini, or roasted vegetables, but just makes so much sense if you’re looking to make a pesto in the months of autumn or winter. All of the ingredients have a long shelf-life, and thus don’t need to be imported in order to be fresh!
Now, let’s talk nuts. Traditional Pesto Rosso recipes use almonds as the mealy base that give the pesto some heft, and the granulated texture we’ve all come to know and love (this is the role of the pine nuts in pesto alla genovese). Unfortunately, almonds are one of the most water-intensive nuts to cultivate. So, we experimented with two well-known and significantly less impactful nuts. If you ask me, substituting almonds for a mixture of walnuts and cashews not only did the job, but improved the overall flavor. The walnuts add and incredible mealy texture, while the richness of the cashews imparts a complex fatty-sweetness that the almonds were lacking.
Check out this super easy recipe below!
Ingredients
1 Cup Sun-dried Tomatoes : We recommend getting these unflavored (you’ll often see them with additional rosemary or garlic flavoring) so that you can have full control of your pesto! Additionally, if you happen to be in tomato season, these can be easily made at home (see end of recipe for instructions)
⅓ Cup Nuts : Half walnuts, half cashews. We recommend that these be unsalted. If you are only able to get salted nuts, wait until the end to add your salt, and do so to taste.
¾ Cup Olive Oil : Sun-dried tomatoes often come in a jar with oil, try to use as much of this oil as possible by draining into a cup before you remove your sun-dried tomatoes! They are infused with incredible flavor, and reduce the amount of additional olive oil you will need!
½ tsp Salt : see note regarding salted nuts
¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper : freshly ground is highly recommended!
½ tsp Red Chili Flakes : We promise this doesn’t make the pesto very spicy. That being said, if for some reason you want some extra heat, here’s your chance!
1 tbsp Rosemary ‘Leaves’ : These can be fresh or dried. Fresh will impart a much stronger flavor.
2 Large Cloves of Garlic
Optional Variation #1 : ½ tbsp Thyme; for a pesto with an herby kick
Optional Variation #2 : ½ tbsp Cumin; for a pesto with a middle-eastern kick (this one is seriously amazing, assuming you like cumin)
Preparation:
Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and blend until a thick paste forms.
If you’re using pre-salted nuts, wait to salt until after the paste has formed, then add to taste.
Best Practices:
As always:
Avoid packaged produce, or really anything packaged for that matter. This is not to say that you’ll always have the option, but when you do, go for it! For example, you may sometimes see garlic in nylon netting, or thyme in a plastic container. These are all very often available sans any container, so take the opportunity to use your hands, smell the produce, build that relationship with your ingredients! That being said, sun-dried tomatoes, for example, might be difficult to avoid with packaging. Pick your battles and fight them well!
Try to bring your own bags when you go shopping for these ingredients
Make sure you’re not buying more than you think you’ll reasonably use! Things like garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, dried herbs, and nuts will all last a while, so with those if you buy a bit more than you needed, you’ll have plenty of time to use them in the future. But with any fresh herbs, those will go bad fairly quickly so buy with care!
These ingredients have been chosen with several things in mind:
Most of these ingredients are household staples that are relatively inexpensive and last a long time
As previously mentioned, the more traditional almonds have been substituted for walnuts and cashews, since almonds are incredibly water-intensive crops.
All of the ingredients included can be bought preserved (sun-dried tomatoes) or dried and storable (spices, herbs, nuts). We have chosen this as a winter recipe since it conveniently makes use of ingredients that don’t need to be fresh, and thus don’t need to be imported or shipped long distances.
Other than being incredibly flavorful, cheap, and easy to make, we have chosen Pesto Rosso over the more traditional Pesto Alla Genovese as it avoids the use of cows-milk dairy (parmigiano reggiano) and pine nuts (unsustainable demand is destroying the ecosystems in which they are naturally harvested).
If you happen to be in a climate or time of year when tomatoes are in season, you can make the “sun-dried” tomatoes yourself! Granted, they will be oven dried, you will achieve an almost identical result! Simply preheat your oven to 220F, halve your desired amount of tomatoes and remove the stems(smaller tomatoes cook quicker and more evenly!), remove any visible seeds, place on a parchment-lined baking tray (cut-side up), lightly season with salt, and let bake. Baking times will vary widely based on the size and type of tomato used. We recommend checking them every hour until they are leathery in texture. Cool, season with salt to taste, drizzle olive oil to coat, and pack in an air-tight jar!
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