Two weeks ago I was craving Healthy Happy Life’s vegan pesto, but I didn’t have basil or pine nuts, or the will to drive to the store for that matter. I did have broccoli on hand and figured it’s green. Thus, the broccoli pesto was invented.
To my surprise, it was absolutely scrumptious and way cheaper to make than regular pesto.
Broccoli pesto has the exact pesto texture. It is garlicky, lemony and you will want to spread it on everything.
The only downside, to any pesto, is that you have to haul out the monster and clean it later.
I started by blanching my broccoli in boiling water for a few minutes until it was fork tender. I removed the cooked broccoli from the pot and immediately plunged it into ice water to stop the cooking and set the bright green pesto color.
Once the broccoli is completely cooled, I fished it out with my hands onto some paper towels and squeezed all of the water out of it. You’ll be surprised how much water it’s holding.
The great thing about pesto is that it is a “dump it all in” recipe. To the food processor I added: walnuts, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic (lots) and parsley. The specific measurements are below, but if you’re like me, you’ll just throw stuff in, say a small prayer and whirl. I gave this mixture a quick few pulses to break things apart.
The drained and squeezed dry broccoli then gets pulverized along with the rest of the ingredients until everything is a homogeneous mixture of green. The olive oil comes next. Drizzle in enough so that everything whips around the food processor smoothly. On TV, they always take the time to slowly pour olive oil down the food processor feed tube while the camera pans into their smiling face, but I don’t have the patience and dump it in at once. It all mixes in just dandy.
Lastly, season with salt and pepper. Start small and taste as you go.
That’s it, vegan broccoli pesto. It is perfect on pasta. That’s how I served it the first time. Last night, I put big globs over grilled tofu along side of artichoke mash and French string beans with lemon. If you are going to serve it over pasta, reserve some of the starchy pasta cooking water to thin the pesto a bit. This is a good trick to get a creamy consistency without adding tons of oil.
The artichoke mash looks boring, but it was delicious. I should have decorated it with parsley or green onions.
Broccoli Pesto
Yield: 1¾ Cup
Ingredients:
- 3 Full Cups Broccoli Florets
- 4 Cloves Garlic
- Zest and Juice of 1 Lemon
- ½ Cup Walnuts
- ⅓ Cup Parsley
- ⅔ Cup Olive Oil
- Salt and Pepper to Taste
Instructions:
Blanch the broccoli by cooking it in boiling water until it is fork tender and then immediately plunge it into ice water. Once the broccoli is cold, remove it from the ice water and drain it on paper towels. Squeeze the excess water from the broccoli before adding it to the pesto.
Add all the garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, walnuts and parsley to the food processor and pulse until chunky. Add the dry broccoli florets and pulse until the mixture is completely combined. It should look like very dry pesto at this point. Add in the olive oil and process the ingredients together until the pesto is completely creamy. Season with salt and pepper and mix again. Enjoy!
Last thing, please promise me you’ll make a mess while you’re trying this recipe. I will feel much better about the disaster I created. Pesto everywhere!
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Finding Vegan
