I have to seek out a lot of recipes I that I try in my kitchen. Sometimes I’ve eaten them in a restaurant and tried to reproduce them at home or sometimes I’ve eaten them in a restaurant and insisted the chefs let me come cook it with them to learn how to make it. But sometimes, the recipes find me.
When we lived in Jerusalem, I used to buy 150 g of ground pistachios every week because we’d use them in everything: desserts, pasta, and for our favorite dinner: pistachio-crusted chicken with lemon (which I’ll post soon). So, when I say that recipes find me, I’m referring to those days where you are down to your “last person to be picked for the team” ingredients and all you can do is roll your eyes, reach into the fridge listlessly and hope that whatever you make won’t give you heart burn.
I didn’t know, however, how lethal combining pistachio, garlic, basil and parmesan could be. The second I tasted this pesto, my eyes did that thing cartoon characters’ eyes do when they pop out of their sockets, make a bwoing-oing sound and slam back into their heads. This dip is unstoppable. Kind of like I think Muhammara and Harissa are unstoppable, if you tried either one yet.
Spread it on bread, use it as a pizza sauce (although you’ll need to add a lot more oil), dunk some pita chips into it, or spread it onto a thin, eggy, dill-spiced crepe of sorts, add some feta and greens and roll it up for breakfast!
What you need:
How to do it:
Place your pistachios in a grinder (food processor, coffee grinder, whatever you have available to you) until they become a powder. If you don’t have one, and don’t mind a nuttier pesto, you could probably just put them in a plastic bag and smash it with a pan a few times. Chop your basil finely and add it to the ground pistachios. Add the garlic and Parmesan cheese and give the mix a few stirs. Add the olive oil and stir until there are no visible dry globs and until it reaches a spreadable consistency. Taste the mixture and if it needs salt, add accordingly—some Parmesan cheeses are incredibly salty. Personally, I like it best after it has sat in the fridge overnight, but you can eat it right away. Enjoy!
my jerusalem kitchen 