International dishesSauces and DipsItaly30 minutes
Anyone who cooks pasta often keeps a jar of thyme pesto with pine nuts and parmesan on hand. The sauce is bright green, fragrant with herbs and rich with pine nuts. The hard part is the color, as blending too long turns it dull and sharp.
Two ice cubes in the blender keep the jug cool and the sauce green. Blend for about 2 minutes until smooth, season with salt and black pepper, then blend for another 2 minutes.
This batch weighs about 132g, at roughly 308 calories per 100g.
Method
Put 60g of thyme leaves, 30g of shelled pine nuts, 5g of garlic, 30g of grated parmesan and 2 ice cubes, about 20g, into the blender in that order.
Blend the mixture for about 2 minutes until smooth.
Add 1 teaspoon of black pepper and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and blend for another 2 minutes until the sauce is even.
Spoon the sauce into a clean jar to toss through pasta, spread on bread or serve alongside chicken and fish.
Tips
Pine nuts are sold at nut and grain shops and larger supermarkets, and the ones to choose are long and even rather than shriveled.
The ice keeps the sauce green while it blends.
Plain roasted cashews stand in when there are no pine nuts.
Blend in short pulses to keep the jug cool, as heat darkens the leaves.
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