Lemon Pesto Sauce
To skip the post and step-by-step instructions and go straight to recipe, click here.Ever since he was a child, my husband has been a pesto fanatic. The most frequently-told story I hear from him (and his loving mother) about his childhood is one describing his mama’s “green worms and yellow rocks”. This is how she cleverly persuaded her 3 boys to eat pesto spaghetti with corn, and is likely the birth of his pesto obsession. These days, he probably eats a lot less pesto than he did as an 8-year-old. But, I hope when I do serve it up, I can still give him those childhood warm fuzzies that can only come from eating your old favorite dish. I can only hope that someone out there will make my pesto for their family, and create their own happy memories in the kitchen.
While there are tons of great pesto recipes out there, the flavors in this one pop more than any pesto I’ve had before. With each bite, you can taste the toastiness of the pine nuts, the nuttiness of the parmesan, the slight heat of the pepper, and the BRIGHT lemon, making it perfect for summertime. Or, it can be made any time of year to bring a citrusy burst of freshness to your pesto-based meals! It’s also very simple to make, and has only a few basic steps. While “pesto” originates from the word “pestȃ”, meaning “to pound”, these days your blender does all the work for you! This sauce has every element of flavor to round out any savory dish. If you don’t have a dish in mind, I’d highly recommend that you take a look at my lemon pesto pasta with mozzarella, portobellos, and pancetta recipe, which has been specifically catered to go perfectly with this lemon pesto. It would be a great dish for a date night in, which we’ve been having a lot of the past few months!
Step-By-Step Walk-through:
If you’re feeling confident in your cooking skills and want to skip the walk-through, click here.
Step 1:
Dry toasting the pine nuts
To start out, place a small pan over medium heat. I used a cast iron, but any small pan will work. You don’t need to add any oil to the pan, as you might if you were sauteeing - the nuts will toast just fine completely dry. Before the pan gets a chance to get hot, add 3 TBS. of pine nuts to the pan.
Stir the pine nuts occasionally, toasting over medium heat, for about 10 minutes. They should be a deep, toasty brown color, and smell very fragrant and nutty.
When they’re good and toasty, remove them from the heat and pour them into a small bowl.
Step 2:
Measure your ingredients
First, zest and juice your lemon. Be sure to only get the thin, bright yellow layer in your zest, and not to go too deep into the white part of the rind (this will cause a bitter flavor, rather than a lemony freshness). Measure out ½ tablespoon of zest and 1 tablespoon of juice. If you choose to zest your whole lemon and you have extra zest, it can be frozen in a small food storage container and used in the future.
Next, grate your parmesan. Freshly grated parmesan is on a whole other level from the powdery pre-ground kind in the supermarket. The longer parmesan is stored after being grated or ground, the more flavor it loses. Fresh-grating your parmesan ensures the most creamy, nutty flavor, and allows for slightly bigger pieces of parmesan in your sauce that will create a more dynamic bite. Use the second largest size of grater for thin, small pieces. You’ll need ¼ cup, plus 1 tablespoon. If you grate too much, have a snack! Hehe.
Then, mince 2 cloves of garlic. You can also use pre-minced garlic (½ tablespoon), but it won’t have as strong of a flavor. Make sure to remove any skin on the garlic before mincing it.
Then, measure all your remaining sauce ingredients: 1/2 cup torn fresh basil, 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon chili flakes, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Note: if you have a high-powered blender or food processor that doesn’t require as much liquid to blend, you can start with 1/8 cup of olive oil and increase from there as needed, up to 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons.
Step 3:
Blending the sauce
We’re already on the last step - told you it was easy! Add all of your measured ingredients (starting with 1/8 cup of the oil and only adding more as needed) into your blender or food processor, whichever you’d like to use to blend your pesto. Cover and blend to your desired consistency, stopping to scrape down the sides of your appliance with a rubber spatula as needed. For pasta, I prefer it to be a little chunkier with a bit of bite.
Recommended Uses:
Your homemade lemon pesto is ready! Here’s some things you can do with it.
Add To Pasta Dishes. This is the obvious choice. My favorite type of pasta to put pesto on (and in general) is fettuccine, but pesto is one of the few sauces that I feel like goes well on just about any pasta shape. If you’d like a full pasta recipe using this pesto, check out my lemon pesto pasta with mozzarella, portobellos, and pancetta recipe!
Add To Meat Dishes. This would bring a fresh, herbaceous twist to grilled chicken or pork!
Use as a Pizza Sauce. If you’re having a pizza night, lemon pesto would be a fresh, tasty replacement for sauce on a homemade pizza. I’d recommend chicken, mushrooms, tomatoes, artichokes, spinach, or feta for toppings.
Use as a Sandwich Spread. When I mentioned to a friend that I was developing this recipe, he started telling me about his favorite sandwich - chicken with pesto! This would also be great on a grilled cheese!
Add to a Cheese Board. For me, there’s nothing classier than a good cheese board, and pesto makes a lovely addition to any collection of cheeses, crackers, breads, salamis, and even as a dip for vegetables.
Add to Vegetables. You can toss this into roasted or steamed broccoli, green beans, or carrots for a fresh vegetable side dish, mix it into Greek yogurt for a vegetable dip, or use as a salad dressing.
Lemon Pesto Sauce
Servings: 2-3 Time: 15-20 minutes
Difficulty: 🧡🧡🤍🤍🤍
Ingredients:
3 TBS. pine nuts
½ cup roughly torn fresh basil leaves, stems discarded
½ TBS. lemon zest (about ½ a lemon’s worth)
¼ cup + 1 TBS. freshly grated parmesan cheese
1 TBS. lemon juice
¼ cup + 2 TBS. olive oil (may not need all the olive oil, depending on strength of blender)
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. black pepper
½ tsp. red pepper flakes
½ TBS. minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
Directions:
Step 1: Dry Toast the Pine Nuts
Place a small pan over medium heat. Before it gets a chance to heat up, add the pine nuts. Heat until fragrant and a dark, toasty brown color, stirring occasionally (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat.
Step 2: Assemble Ingredients
Zest your lemon, grate your cheese, mince your garlic, and measure out all of your ingredients to ensure you have everything you need.
Step 3: Blend Sauce
Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor. Add 1/8 cup olive oil to start, and begin to blend, adding oil as needed until it’s well blended to your desired texture. Less time for a chunkier pesto, more for a smoother sauce. Check periodically until you’re happy with the texture. Add to your favorite pasta, sandwiches, or meat dishes!