Zucchini Pesto
I don't know if I can call this "Pesto" but it tastes as good as any traditional pesto I've had. I was looking for a way to use the excess zucchini from my garden and it is always good to have recipes to recommend when you are handing someone zucchini you need to get rid of. Here is my recipe:
Garlic Lovers Zucchini Pesto:
1 medium zucchini washed and ends trimmed. Grate this and put in a cheesecloth lined colander with a pinch of rough salt to drain for 10 minutes or so. Fold cheesecloth around zucchini and then squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible.
heat 1-2 Tbs olive oil Medium/low. Add 1 tbs-or to taste-red pepper flakes and heat for a minute or so. Add zucchini and saute until soft, stir often so it doesn't burn 10 minutes or so.
Set zucchini aside to cool. While it cools, toast 3 Tbs pine nuts in oven at 350. Toast just until slightly brown. This doesn't take very long so keep an eye out. I let mine get too brown, almost burned, one time and the pesto was okay but not as tasty.
When nuts are finished toasting, add to blender in this order..
pine nuts/ 8 cloves crushed fresh garlic / hand full of chopped fresh basil leaves/ zucchini. Process for a few seconds then run the blender while you drizzle olive oil in just until the ingredients turn into a rough paste. Process until smooth.
Scrape into bowl and add finely grated Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup or to taste and salt and pepper to taste.
I'm saving this for when we plant zucchini. I know how they can be overwhelming, which is why we have avoided planting them for years.
Suzi, I made the mistake of planting 3!!! zucchini plants. The seed package said bush sized so I thought that meant I needed more plants to make sure I got enough zucchini!!! I should have known better.... This pesto is good on pizza with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella.
Yikes Rhoder!!! You know, you can always go around the neighbourhood and leave them on people's front steps. :-)
Jasdip, I thought about doing that... fortunately, my community garden has a couple of gardeners who will deliver extra produce to the food bank several times per week.
Before my plants started producing, I accepted a few zuchs from other gardeners and exhausted my recipes before mine were ready to pick. This recipe is new to me and I really like it so I thought I would share in case there were other gardeners in the same situation.
rhoder, I have blossoms but no zucchini yet, and this sounds delicious. I'm not a fan of traditional pesto, it's just too strong of basil, but I'm thinking the zucchini would "cut" that a bit.
Only THREE plants? I have six, LOL, but my mother and my two daughters swipe the zucchini as fast as I can grow them. They are one of the first garden produce available and so they are in big demand. Until other things start ripening, and then I start making zucchini pancakes, zucchini bread, zucchini muffins and zucchini candy!
Annie
annie1992, I agree with you about the overwhelming strong taste of traditional pesto. To me, the basil and pine nuts always seemed not to go very well together...the zucchini pesto has a milder flavor. This recipe does have a lot of garlic, I love garlic... the amount can be adjusted of course. My tomatoes are starting to ripen, I have been topping the pasta with chopped tomatoes and that is very good. The zucchini pesto is a great way to serve zucchini to anyone who doesn't like it ( its delicious on pizza) but you obviously don't have that problem :)
6 zucchini plants!! I'm impressed.....
I haven't tried growing any kind of squash in the last few years due to squash vine borers. They get me every time, so I gave up. But, I want to try this recipe.
I usually substitute walnuts for pine nuts due to the expense of pine nuts. If you don't like the combo of basil and pine nuts, it might be worth a try if you haven't already thought of that.
Sally
sally, I had pine nuts left over from a quiche recipe, they are getting kind of old and I just used the last of them. I like the taste of pine nuts but next time I make this recipe I will try walnuts.
It'll be different, but tasty anyway.
Sally
I'm going to try this when my zukes start producing. It'll be double zucchini since I'll have mine over zoodles.
I'm another person who does not like basil pesto. Basil itself is great as a supporting character but basil pesto is just too, too much for my palate.
I looooove basil pesto...but sometimes when I have been short of basil to make a batch, I have filled in with spinach. Very delicious!...part basil and part spinach.
Also wondering how a spoonfull of tahini would be as a sub for pignoli?
ci_lantro, you will probably like this one since the basil doesn't dominate like traditional basil pesto. I mixed a small amount of this zucchini pesto with mayo and used it as a spread on my cheese sandwich, was very delicious...
lindac92, I'm sure this recipe will taste delicious with more basil. I happen to like garlic so I let that dominate...