I’d been wanting to make pesto all summer, but every time I went grocery shopping I looked at the pine nuts and just couldn’t bring myself to fork out the high cost of what they’re selling for right now. While camping with some friends a few weeks ago, one family made walnut pesto
to share with the group.
to share with the group.
When I tasted the walnut pesto and realized it was just as tasty but more affordable to make than pine nut pesto, I knew I had to try it.
There are quite a few pesto recipes out there on the internet so I combined a few and shared what I did in the recipe below. The recipe I used is great for freezing, you just put in less oil and don’t put the fresh grated cheese in until you are ready to use it.
I froze our pesto in ice cube trays and put the cubes in a labeled bag in the freezer. Now anytime I want to make pesto I just need to thaw out as many cubes as I need, add in a little more oil and fresh grated cheese. I can just imagine how wonderful it will be to eat homemade pesto is the middle of a cold Montana winter!
In addition to sharing the recipe for walnut pesto, I’m also sharing a recipe for this amazing meal we came up with to use some of the veggies we had harvested from our gardens and also use some wild harvested Morel Mushrooms.
Morels are a delicacy and foraged primarily from burned forests and occasional stream banks. We like to dry them for storage and rehydrate by soaking in water to use them when cooking throughout the year.
Walnut Pesto*
8 cups fresh basil
1 cup walnuts chopped
6-8 garlic cloves diced (you can use more if you like yours more garlicy)
Salt, pepper to taste
2 cups olive oil
1 cup Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Rinse basil and remove leaves from the stems. If your walnuts are not pre-chopped, you can put them in the food processor first and pulse it a few times to chop them into smaller bits. Add the basil leaves, walnuts, and garlic to the food processor. Slowly pour in the olive oil. Pulse until all ingredients are chopped fine. Add salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste. Add in 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese.
*If you are planning to freeze the pesto, use just 1 cup olive oil and you will need to add in more olive oil when you thaw it to use. You can freeze the pesto with the parmesan cheese in it but I read that it works better if you add the parmesan cheese fresh after you thaw the pesto.
Now here’s the rest of the recipe for the super delicious Morel & Garden Harvest Walnut Pesto dish:
1 medium zucchini
2-3 garlic cloves minced
2-3 medium size tomatoes chopped in bite size pieces
½-1 cup Morel mushrooms**
Pasta of your choice (we used whole grain spaghetti noodles)
Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Walnut pesto
Boil water and start to cook your choice of pasta. Chop the zucchini in bite size pieces and sauté with the garlic. Chop morel mushrooms into bite size pieces if needed since they come in all sizes. Add the morels in with the zucchini and garlic and continue to sauté. Once the zucchini are softened but not too mushy, remove from heat. If you timed your cooking well, the pasta should be done around the same time. Strain water off the pasta and toss with your homemade walnut pesto.
Place a serving of pesto pasta on the plate, add a hearty spoonful of the zucchini/morel sauté, then sprinkle a handful of fresh chopped tomatoes on top. To finish it off, grate fresh parmesan cheese on top of the whole dish and serve.
Simply amazing and simply healthy!
**If you don’t have morel mushrooms you could substitute another type of flavorful mushroom, portabella mushrooms are pretty common and would probably be at tasty substitute!
If you enjoyed reading this post, please join our other regular readers and subscribe to this blog by clicking here. We are so grateful to our regular readers and feel so blessed, thank you all!
To find out where we’re linking up, click here to see our link list.
Like this? Please share it! 
This looks delicious! I’m your newest follower from “Foodie Friday” blog hop. I would like to invite you to link this wonderful recipe to my “Themed blog hop” going on this week:
http://www.godsgrowinggarden.com/2012/08/themed-blog-shop-hop-summer-vegetables.html
Thanks
Angie
Thanks for stopping by Angie! I’ll have to hop on over and check out your blog hop
Walnuts are a good idea. I often use almonds in my pesto since my son is allergic to pine nuts.
Stopping by from God’s Growing Garden blog hop
Ooohh, almond pesto sounds really tasty too! I just might have to try that next time I make pesto to see what that version tastes like.
Walnut pesto is terrific if you really want to go super healthy try miso pesto, even my mother likes it. Thanks for sharing this very seasonal recipe on foodie friday. http://www.edenfoods.com/recipes/view.php?recipes_id=829 You can use any type of miso paste.
Hi Diane, thanks for the idea about trying miso pesto! I haven’t heard of that variety either so will have to check it out
Walnuts?? What a brilliant idea! That’s always my problem too is the high cost of the pine nuts. This is the perfect solution! Thanks for sharing
New follower here. Yay for being blog friends! Feel free to come say hi! http://highheelsandgrills.blogspot.com/
Hello and thanks for stopping by and following! I will hop on over to visit your blog too
I was really excited when I heard about walnut pesto too, I don’t know if I’ll ever make it with pine nuts again!
Love the idea of using walnuts in pesto! Thanks for sharing this at Fill Those Jars Friday!
Hi Mindy! Thanks for stopping by
I’m glad folks are loving the idea of using walnuts, it makes pesto so much more affordable and we didn’t really notice a taste difference when not using pine nuts!
aw man! you are so lucky to have access to morels! they have such an incredible texture and flavor. i can get them dried and rehydrate them - i must learn to forage.
today is the Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop – I was hoping, if you feel up for it, that you’d link up this fabulous post (and any future fabulous, seasonal and/or real food posts) with us
Everyone is welcome so feel free to stop by. take care! xo, kristy
We have access to finding morels but sometimes finding the perfect spot is tough- they only grow in burned areas that have burnt very hot where nothing regrows the following year. Sometimes these areas are remote and take some hiking and exploring to find but that just makes them that much more enjoyable! I will definitely hop on over to the blog hop and share, thank you for the invite
huh. i had no idea. i have some serious foraging lessons to learn
thank you for taking the time to share with us at The Wednesday Fresh Foods Blog Hop - we hope to see you again this week with more incredible posts! xo, kristy