Pesto is traditionally made with basil, pine nuts and parmesan but it can be made with all sorts of combinations of herbs and nuts and it can be vegan. For this one I’ve chosen fennel as the star of the show as the fennel in my veg bag came with luscious long fronds (that's leaves to you and me) still attached.
Walnuts or the more traditional pine nuts would also work in this recipe.
Check out loads of other tasty fennel recipes here.
1/2 cup toasted almonds
1 Tbsp Nutritional Yeast
3 handfuls of fennel fronds, roughly chopped, stems removed
Garlic (according to taste). I used 2 cloves
A big glug of olive oil
Juice of half a lemon
A pinch of sea salt
Toast the almonds - either on a dry frying pan on medium heat, or in the oven - 180C for about 10 mins, until slightly browned.
Put the almonds, nutritional yeast, fennel, lemon juice and garlic in a food processor. Add a good drizzle of olive oil over the top.
Blitz until it forms a nice paste - make it as smooth as you wish, splashing more oil in as needed, or a bit of water if it needs loosening up more.
Taste. Add salt to taste, and add more of any of the ingredients if you want to adjust taste or consistency as you like it.
Serve as a dip, spread or pasta sauce. Or, pop into a jar, drizzle a bit of oil over the top, cover and store in the fridge for 3-4 days. It also freezes very well.
