Aritchoke Pesto

I was thrilled to be watching Everyday Italian and see a virtually dairy-free pesto. Giada adds Parmesan and uses walnuts. I don’t think it needs cheese (and trust me, I like cheese on everything), and I add toasted pumpkin seed in place of walnuts to make it safe for my allergic toddler. Here’s Giada De Laurentiis’ original version, and here’s my modified version:

Artichoke Pesto on Ciabatta
1 (8-ounce) pack frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
1 cup fresh parsley leaves, packed down
1/2 cup chopped toasted pumpkin seeds
1 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a food processor combine the artichokes, parsley, walnuts, lemon zest and juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. Run the machine to finely chop all the ingredients, stopping the machine a few times to scrape down the sides. Then, with the machine running, drizzle in 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil.

 

Place a grill pan over medium-high heat or preheat a gas or charcoal grill. Drizzle the ciabatta slices with the 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil. Grill until toasted, about 5 minutes. Spread the artichoke pesto over the toasted slices and serve.

EmilyCC

EmilyCC lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her spouse and three children. She currently serves as a stake Just Serve specialists, and she recently returned to school to become a nurse. She is a former editor of Exponent II and a founding blogger at The Exponent.

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  1. Courtney says:

    Is that the one where she has her sister on the show? I just added basil to my grocery list so I could make it this week. Yum! I love Everyday Italian. Interesting variation to the recipe, I’ll have to try it!

  2. Eve says:

    Oh, hooray for pesto! Delicious. I have very fond memories of the sister in one branch who used to make it fresh and send it home with us nearly every week the entire summer I spent in one city in Sicily.

  3. Kaimipono says:

    That would be just about perfect with a little bit of parmagianna and some gruyere. 🙂

  4. EmilyCC says:

    This is from the episode where Giada’s sister just had a baby (so this is a pesto that freezes well).

    I agree that it would be delightful with cheese.

  5. jana says:

    I’ve always made pesto with pineneuts not walnuts–do you know if pinenuts tend to cause allergies in kids?

  1. April 8, 2008

    […] by number of comments. Deborah’s virtual oases, Brooke’s poetry, and EmilyCC’s recipes, for example, are more FYE (for your edification) than comment-inducing (argument-inciting?) topics […]

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