Pesto Genovese is known to almost everyone. But did you know that you can make pesto from Swiss chard? It's easy
Like chard, pesto also comes from the Mediterranean region. So why not just conjure up a pesto from chard? This is an uncooked sauce that is used in Italian cuisine primarily to refine pasta dishes. But the crushed sauce also goes well with bread and various meat dishes.
Many only know the classic Pesto Genovese - but eating the same thing over and over again can really get boring after a while, right? So feel free to try something new. Peanut pesto, for example, tastes very delicious. If you don't like it so nutty, maybe a chard pesto is more suitable. It takes just a few minutes to prepare and tastes fantastic. It can also be modified at any time.
How to make the classic chard pesto
Ingredients (for four people):
- 300 g chard
- 3 sprigs of rosemary
- 80 g grated parmesan cheese
- 1 clove of garlic
- 3 tbsp roasted pumpkin seeds
- 80 ml olive oil
- 1 Lemon
- S alt
- pepper
Preparation:
In the first step, separate the chard leaves from the stalk. Now you only need the small plucked leaves, which you have to blanch briefly in boiling water. Then drain in a sieve. In the meantime, pluck the needles from the rosemary sprig and chop very finely. You also need to chop the garlic cloves. Then squeeze the lemon and reserve the juice. Now use a hand blender to puree all the ingredients into a creamy mass. Then season with pepper, s alt and lemon juice. And the delicious Swiss chard pesto is ready.
How to adapt the chard pesto
The recipe just described is a basic recipe that you can of course modify as you wish. Here are some ideas:
» Swiss chard and nut pesto:
If you like it nuttier, you can also prepare the pesto with 50 g of chopped and roasted hazelnuts or with pistachio, cashew or pine nuts instead of pumpkin seeds. Then leave it alonethe lemon juice away. It tastes better.
» Swiss chard and herb pesto:
Of course you can refine the pesto with a few herbs. In principle, you can take any you like. Parsley, for example, goes very well with it.
» Asian chard pesto:
If you like, you can also add a little soy sauce and maple syrup to the pesto. This gives it a completely different, but still very tasty and somewhat Asian taste.