Pistachio Pesto

Pistachio Pesto

You can enjoy this pesto on your pizza, pasta, salad, appetizer platter or wherever your creativity takes you! 
Back in June the hubby and I took a few days off of work and went on a short road trip through the south of Germany. The trip was awesome and being the foodie that I am, my most exciting adventures happened during breakfast, lunch and dinner. Some meals were disappointing, others were good and a couple were memorable. 

Pistachio Pesto

And as with most things in life, the best meal we had on this trip happened unexpectedly. It was our last day, we were tired from touring and very hungry. We had no previous thoughts of what or where to eat, so the plan of attack was to stroll the streets until we found a restaurant we both rated with a "yes". It took us a long time but we finally came across a cute "mall-style" Italian Restaurant. I don't really want to use the term "fast food" for them because although their meals are prepared quickly enough, they are flavorful and prepared with quality ingredients. 

Their menu contains different types of Foccacias, pasta dishes and a handfull of desserts.While running my eyes through it, a Pistachio Pesto pasta jumped out of the page. My decision was made and so was Mr. LTH's, we both settled for the same dish. 

The food was spectacular. Fresh pasta with a nutty and addictive pesto sauce. Surprisingly, it was the cheapest meal we paid on that trip.

The sad part is that we live 6 hours from this restaurant, so I had to figure out how to make my own Pistachio Pesto (did I mention how addictive it is?).

My version is a bit more garlicky than the restaurant's but that's ok because garlic is delicious and it only makes the pesto taste even better. ;)

Pistachio Pesto

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Yield: 3/4 of a cup

Level: Easy peasy

Ingredients:

• 1/3  cup of Pistachio (peeled)
• 1/3  cup of Parmesan cheese
• 1 medium Garlic clove
• 1 cup of Arugula 
• 5 fresh Basil leaves
• 1/2 cup of olive oil

Pistachio

In a skillet, slightly toast pistachios.You want to keep a close eye on them so they don't burn. 

Add all ingredients in a deep bowl and blend everything together using a hand blender. Depending on how you like it, you can blend it slightly so you have little pistachio chunks or until nice and smooth. 

Ta-da! It's ready! You can toss it with you pasta (I would say 500g of cooked pasta), spread it on a pizza, or sprinkle it over an appetizer platter.

Tips:

- You can substitute arugula for baby spinach

- Depending of the blender you're going to use, you might want to consider chopping the garlic and cheese
- You can also use a regular blender or food processor to make the pesto 

If you are in the market for a hand blender, you might want to take a look at this one: