Tuesday, February 3, 2009

Greens Series - Day 2 - Spinach Pesto

I kind of like spinach, or at least I don't hate it, but I particularly dislike how mushy it gets when you cook it. Even just barely wilting it turns it too soft for my taste. Turning it into a pesto sidesteps the whole mushiness issue and is a nice milder alternative to an all-basil pesto. You can use pesto in lots of ways; as a salad dressing (cold or warm), an alternative to mayo in chicken salad, a way to add some zest to soup, a sauce for steamed veggies. Tonight I'm making split chicken breasts and I'm rubbing the pesto underneath the chicken skin.


Spinach Pesto

ingredients:
7 oz raw baby spinach (this is the size of the salad bags of spinach at my grocery store)
1 cup of fresh basil
1/3 cup walnuts
1 clove garlic, peeled
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the spinach and basil in a food processor and process down to a coarse paste. Add the walnuts, garlic, and salt and process until the walnuts disappear. Scrape down the sides if necessary. With the motor running, add the olive oil in a thin stream. Taste it and adjust the salt level.



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Posts in the Greens Series:
Relaxed Kale Salad
Spinach Pesto
Baby Bok Choy with Ginger
Broiled Kale
Southern Style Collards

5 comments:

PaulaG said...

Timely... just got some spinach at the farmers' market Sat and need to figure out what to do with it.

TrailGrrl

Elizabeth said...

I've been making chicken salad with it and getting rave reviews from the hubby. ;)

Anonymous said...

Looks good. I'm all over making this next week.

Marc said...

Elizabgeth,

This is why I love all my paleo peeps ;-)
I have never thought of making it like this. Thank you!!
I will make it this coming week.

Marc

Deb said...

This sounds wonderful! Thank you for sharing.