Readers’ recipe swap: Pesto

From the Genoese verb pestâ, meaning to pound or crush, pesto is a whole system in a sauce – the possibilities it harbours go way beyond your basic parmesan-basil bash. You pile together something nutty, something oily, something cheesy (or not – see below) and something green (again, this can change too). Then you season it and crush it all together. As the flavours meld and settle, you achieve a thoroughly adaptable condiment – one that works as well atop a bowl of soup and stirred through another of pasta as it does baked on to a fillet of fish or tucked inside a meatball. The fun is figuring out which combo works best.

The winning recipe: Singapore laksa pesto

Here, MarmadukeScarlet takes inspiration from daun kesum or Vietnamese coriander – commonly associated with noodle soup – to create a maddeningly tasty paste that you just want to eat by the spoonful. And to me, that’s exactly what a good pesto should have: flavours so concentrated and flavourful that mere spoonfuls will season entire bowlfuls. Cashews lend creaminess without the sharp pepperiness of a pine nut. MarmadukeScarlet suggests serving it, as I’ve done here, with fish or grilled prawns, lamb chops, or stirred into minced meat to make meatballs. Alternatively, it makes for a good topping on a bowl of laksa soup or a plate of stir-fried noodles.

Makes about 100g
50g raw cashew nuts
60g fresh coriander (leaves and stems)
25g fresh mint leaves
2 garlic cloves
1 tbsp lime juice
A pinch of sugar
1 tbsp fish sauce
3 tbsp olive oil

1 Heat a frying pan over a medium heat. Toast the cashew nuts, shaking frequently until they have become lightly browned.

2 Put all the ingredients in a blender and whizz up to form a thick paste.

Chargrilled aubergine pesto

LoveLoretta described this as Trinidad meets Italy – basil pesto by way of baigan choka – and it works a treat. The flame-roasted aubergine imparts a deep, smoky flavour while the sun-dried tomato lifts the whole with its sweet, sharp zing. Excellent as it is on pasta, or as a dip with vegetal dippers, or as a base for a tomato and aubergine galette – the recipe is on Loretta’s website.

Serves 4-5
A handful of basil leaves
2 large garlic cloves
120ml olive oil
A handful of pine nuts
60g parmesan cheese
1 aubergine, grilled
Salt and black pepper, season to taste

3-4 sun-dried tomatoes
A squeeze of lemon juice

The flame-grilled way
1 Wipe the aubergine clean. Put it directly on a gas stove flame for as long as necessary to char the skin, but no more than 10 minutes. Turn it every 3-4 minutes with a set of tongs. You want the skin to char, but not quite to bursting: it will begin to deflate and flake. Remove the aubergine carefully as the hot gas escaping from inside can burn your skin.

2 Using tongs, hold the aubergine upright over a chopping board. With a fork, scrape the skin away in a downward motion. Carefully pick away any residual burnt skin.

3 Chop off the stem, put the flesh in a bowl and mash with a fork.

The oven roasted way
1 Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/gas mark 8. Wash and dry the aubergine. With a knife, cut deep slits all around the aubergine.

2 Bake for 30 minutes, or until soft. Remove from the oven and put in a sealed zip-lock bag. Let it sit for 10 minutes – this makes it easy to remove the skin once cool.

To make the pesto
1 Add the remainder of the ingredients to the aubergine flesh. Using a hand blender, blend the mixture into a smooth consistency.

2 Transfer to a container and drizzle to the top with oil to preserve the colour.

Pesto bread

Suzanne Anderegg’s pesto is pretty straightforward, but making a swirl loaf with it is inspired – a recipe endlessly adaptable to whichever herby paste you have in abundance. Especially good straight out of the oven, but a lovely accompaniment to a bowl of soup the following day too.

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Makes 1 loaf
500g wholemeal or granary bread flour
7g easy-bake dried yeast
½ tsp salt
75g black olives, chopped

For the pesto filling
25g fresh basil
1 garlic clove, peeled
½ tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
1 tbsp pecorino cheese, grated
60ml extra virgin olive oil
½ tbsp pine nuts

1 Combine the flour, yeast, salt and chopped olives in a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre and pour in 300ml warm water. Mix with a wooden spoon until it forms a dough, then turn it out on to a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes until elastic and smooth. Put it back into the bowl and cover loosely with clingfilm. Leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour, until it has doubled in size.

2 Once the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and grease or line a loaf tin. Make the pesto by putting all the ingredients into a food processor. Blend together until smooth, then set aside.

3 Turn the dough out on to your floured worktop and knock the air out a little bit by lightly kneading it 3-4 times. Roll the dough out into a rectangle 40cm in length and the same width of your baking tin. Carefully spread the pesto on top of the dough. Roll the dough up like a Swiss roll and pinch the ends together to seal slightly.

4 Carefully put the bread in the baking tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until browned and cooked through. Remove from the baking tin and leave to cool on a wire rack for about 15-20 minutes before slicing it up.

Red pepper, almond and rosemary pesto

This uses fresh, raw peppers and is thoroughly distinct from all the others – it’s light and fresh and sweet, which makes using it as a dip, as Roscar suggests, a particularly good idea.

Serves 4-6
100g blanched almonds, toasted
2 red peppers
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 garlic clove
½ tsp sea salt, to taste
4 tbsp flavourless oil, such as rapeseed

1 Blitz the nuts in a food processor, then add each of the other ingredients in order. When it’s smooth and creamy you’re done. Stir it into pasta or bake on top of a chunky piece of white fish.

Rocket, caramelised lemon, almond and goat’s cheese pesto

A lovely medley of flavours from DetoutcoeurLimousin here – caramelising the lemon does add a smoky bitterness. And rosemary and goat’s cheese make for a rich paste that you just know would work wonders cooked into a bread or galette. Use it as a spread on toast, or dotted on stews and soups, among other things.

Serves 4
1 large lemon, zested, sliced in half lengthways
50g whole almonds
75g rocket
75g goat’s cheese (buche de chevre/ goat’s cheese log)
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, chopped
2 large garlic cloves
75–100ml oil (I used rapeseed oil)
Salt and black pepper

1 Zest the lemon and leave to one side until ready to use. Warm a frying pan over a medium heat, then gently toast the almonds until they start to go golden brown. Remove the almonds and add the lemon halves (flesh side down). Fry until they are starting to brown and caramelise.

2 In a food processor, combine the rocket, goat’s cheese, mint, rosemary, garlic, 75ml oil, the roasted almonds and lemon zest, and then squeeze in the juice from the caramelised lemon. Whizz up for a minute or two.

3 Add salt and pepper to taste and check the consistency. If it needs a bit more liquid you can add some more oil if needed. You want a thick, but loose, spoonable paste.

Broccoli pesto

Much like edamame, broccoli also has a mild nuttiness to it that suits pesto. Blanched broccoli is particularly mild, though, without the aromatic qualities of basil. So this pesto needs the fried anchovy and chilli of Thea Everett’s recipe to shine. Gnocchi, incidentally, is an excellent vessel for any pesto. I used hazelnuts, the woody nuttiness of which sat with that of the broccoli really well.

Serves 4
2 heads of broccoli or 1 head broccoli + 1 sprouting broccoli
Anchovies (optional)
3 garlic cloves
1 red chilli (dried or fresh)
Extra virgin olive oil
1 bunch basil, chopped
A large handful of pine nuts or hazelnuts, lightly toasted
A handful of parmesan
Juice of 1-2 lemons
300-400g gnocchi or pasta, to serve

1 Cut one head of broccoli into florets and boil for about 5 minutes, then refresh in cold water. They should still retain most of their firmness but be soft enough to break up in the blender.

2 Meanwhile chop the other head – including stalks – and fry these in some olive oil with the anchovies, two of the garlic cloves, and the red chilli. Fry for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently.

3 Blend up the blanched broccoli for the pesto, and add some olive oil to help the process along. Add the chopped bunch of basil, a clove of garlic, and your nuts and parmesan, with a little more olive oil, if needed, to get the right consistency. Season and add lemon juice to taste.

4 Now get your gnocchi or pasta on to boil in salted water. Add the juice of a lemon to the fried broccoli (in the pan still) and then put a lid on and turn off to let it steam away in those flavours for a bit.

5 When the gnocchi or pasta is done, mix in your pesto on a low heat and add a splash of olive oil to get it all nicely coated in the sauce. Lastly stir through the fried florets, and serve with some grated parmesan/basil leaves to garnish. (And hot sauce!)

Vegan rocket pesto

I’d always thought my deep-seated love for cheese would make veganism entirely impossible. But that conviction was unseated the first time I tasted vegan kale crisps, flavoured as they are with nutritional yeast. Simon North’s vegan pesto is just as instantly addictive – salty, cheesy, rich. Plus, it’s super easy.

Serves 4
50g rocket
1 small garlic clove, peeled (or half a big one, or more or less depending
on individual taste)
25g salted peanuts
25g nutritional yeast
125ml extra virgin olive oil

1 Put all the ingredients into a blender and whizz to your desired consistency.

Edamame pesto

Edamame stands in for both the nut and the green to this pesto by Rhian Williams, and the combination of lemon juice and soy gives it a wonderfully satisfying ponzu kick. I made it without wasabi and I didn’t feel it needed any spice.

Serves 2
2 handfuls of (frozen) edamame
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove
A generous glug of olive oil
1 handful almonds, roasted
2 tbsp soy sauce
¼ tsp wasabi (optional)

1 Boil the edamame according to instructions on the packet. Add it to a blender with all the other ingredients and whizz until smooth.