Forget Pesto – Make Light Herbal Butter Instead
” Pesto ” is so often the answer to the question “What should I do with these wilted herbs/ carrot tops /basil abundance?” This is a good answer. Pairing plant parts with cheese, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil always makes for a tasty time out, but pine nuts and parmesan are expensive, and making pesto often requires some measurement. This does not apply to vegetable oil, pesto is simpler, cheaper and tastier than a stepsister.
The oil is prepared on the basis of Julia Turshen ‘s green sauce , but there are no measurements, proportions, rules. Add handfuls of herbs to a food processor or blender, along with a clove of garlic, if desired, and blend until well-blended. Add a pinch of salt and then, with the engine running and the blades whirring, drizzle with olive oil until you get the consistency you want, whether it’s pasty or runny. Taste the oil and season more if needed.
You can, of course, add cheese if you like, but you can also add a lemon wedge, or a spoonful of lemon zest, or a pinch of chili powder. You can also use a different oil entirely. Pistachio will do. You can use one herb or five. I made my herbal oil with oregano, green onion and tarragon and it helped. If you want to get rid of carrot tops, beet greens, or withered green onions, you can toss them in there as well. As I said, there are no rules with herbal oil.
Once your oil is cooked, use it immediately, and use it in large quantities. Use it the same way you would pesto on bread, on eggs, as a cheap and easy pasta sauce, on grilled meats and vegetables, or add it to labna or sour cream to make a sauce. You have many options. (However, one option you don’t have is long term storage, as botulism is a risk with vegetable oils. This means you’ll have to use your herbal oil right away, but that shouldn’t be a problem.)