The pot of cilantro in the kitchen garden is going great guns, and so the hunt for recipes requiring copious amounts continues. Today’s recipe for cilantro pesto comes from A Teaspoon of Happiness, the same website where last week’s cilantro-peanut pesto was found. (I must have been half-asleep when typing that recipe as a couple ingredients were left out. The second link above takes you to the corrected recipe.)
But, back to today’s offering. This pesto has plenty of zip. We served to friends who used it as chip dip. And I used it instead of tomato sauce on pizza…and the pizza exploded with flavor. The only change made from the original recipe was to replace the cheese with non-dairy bread crumbs.
Cilantro Pesto
½ cup whole almonds (with or without skin)
2 cup cilantro, large stems removed
⅓ cup non-dairy bread crumbs
2 garlic cloves
½ cup olive oil
1½ tablespoons lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
Process the almonds in a processor or blender until the almonds turn into fine crumbs. Add the remaining ingredients and process until smooth. Store in an air tight container in the refrigerator. Or drop spoonfuls into ice cube trays and freeze. Once frozen solid, pop the pesto out of the tray and store it in freezer bags.
