Pesto’s can be made as many as many different herbs or spices you can think about. The most common ones are green pesto’s made from green herbs, like basil, cilantro or mixed. Others are made from olives, chilli’s or tomatoes.

I like to introduce you to one of my favorites, the sun-dried-tomato pesto. It is easy to make and you can use it for many occasions.

Sun-Dried-Tomato Pesto.

Ingredients.

2/3 cup pine nuts
1 1/2 cups sun-dried tomatoes
12 tbsp olive oil (or sun-dried-tomato oil)
2 cups loosely packed basil leaves
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper, as needed
Ingredients are for about 2 cups of pesto.

How to do.

Add pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor, and pulse until mostly ground,
about 30 seconds.
Add remaining ingredients and puree until smooth, about 1 minute,
scraping down the bowl as needed.

  Crostini with goat cheese, basil and pesto.

Tips.

Swirl with goat cheese and spread onto crostini for a party snack.
Or toss the pesto with your favorite pasta (and a little reserved pasta water) for a meal.
I also use this pesto as a base spread on pizza dough.

   Spaghetti with sun dried tomato pesto.

Use sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil — this way, you can use some of the tomato oil in place of the olive oil in the recipe for even more tomato taste.
In case you want a green pesto, replace the tomatoes with green herbs. Always use oil only to get a smooth paste. Enjoy !!