10-minute Easy Cashew Pesto

10-minute Easy Cashew Pesto:- In what ways are eggs superior? The pesto. In what ways are beans superior? The pesto. To what extent does salad improve? The pesto. What aspects of my life are improved? There is pesto, and of course there is my lovely and affectionate girlfriend! I believe you are beginning to recognize the overall theme here. Pesto elevates the quality of everything. And what is it that makes something that is already good even better? There is a jar of almond cashew pesto that can be made in ten minutes and costs approximately six dollars.

 

10-minute Easy Cashew Pesto

 

 

 

COST

• 1/2 cup of almonds ~$1.50
• 1/2 cup of cashews ~ $1.50
• 1/2 cup of olive oil ~ $1
• 25 grams of basil ~ $1.50 (Even cheaper if you grow your own!)
• 1 garlic clove ~ $0.10
• 1 TSBP of lemon juice ~ $0.15

Total cost for a Mason Jar of Cashew or Almond Pesto ~ $5.75

 

CONCLUSION

Pesto is no longer reserved solely for use in restaurant dishes. The use of pesto on a daily basis, even multiple times a day, is something that should be encouraged. Pesto is a dish that lends itself well to experimentation; you can try out different kinds of nuts, such as pine nuts, walnuts, pecans, or even sunflower seeds, to determine which ones you prefer the most. Then you can use it to elevate any meal that you have already prepared at home to a higher level to perfection. Be sure to share, even though it might be difficult to do so!

 

PESTO ALLA GENOVESE

Pesto, originally hailing from Genova in Northern Italy, owes its name to the Genovese dialect word, pestâ, which simply means ‘to pound’, and is simply a generic term for anything which is pounded in a mortar, using a pestle.

Recognise the similar word there? Pestâ – pestle – pesto.

Naming a food after its preparation method is something I found a lot when we lived in Thailand – for example, som tam, which simply means ‘sour pounded’, or tom yam… which means ‘boiled salad’!

 

IS PESTO VEGAN?

Sadly not. At least, not traditional pesto because along with basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil, it contains Pecorino, which, being made with rennet, is not even vegetarian, let alone vegan.

For a long time, when I made my own, I would simply omit the cheese, and add extra pine nuts and oil. Sometimes I’d add sun-dried tomatoes, olives, or spinach.

I still add these things from time to time but it wasn’t until I was living in India in 2013, and learned about cashew cream, that my vegan pesto really came into its own.

 

VEGAN PESTO WITH CASHEWS

One day, when Usha and I were chatting while cooking together, she told me that she loves to make Italian food, and it suddenly occurred to me that cashew cream in pesto could work really well.

A few months later, when I was visiting Europe – and had access to Mediterranean basil – I experimented, and yes, it totally worked!

Using cashew cream not only gives the pesto a rich and creamy texture, it also means I need less oil and fewer pine nuts, which of course, means fewer calories. Huzzah!

 

ARE PINE NUTS NECESSARY FOR PESTO?

In fact, given how expensive they are to buy, unless I’m making pesto for a special occasion, and really want to push the boat out, I just don’t bother with pine nuts these days. The kernels of sunflower seeds make a good pine nut substitute though, and I’ve been using them a fair bit lately.

My vegan cashew pesto is delicious and satisfying, nutritious, and easy to make – and no animals have suffered to make it. In my book, that’s a clear win. Of course it doesn’t taste exactly the same as pesto alla Genovese… but it does taste like Heaven!