Parsley pesto

The number of times that I have turned to that bottle or dish of pesto  to put together a quick dinner is what makes me remember to replenish the stock each time. It is so easy to whip up a few days ahead and comes in handy in so many different ways.

The most recent one was that we were supposed to make BLATs (Bacon Lettuce Avocado tomato sandwich) for dinner .Despite asking in advance our regular organic supplier did not receive their supply of fresh lettuce from the hill farmers.  The whole wheat sour dough was toasted and ready , bacon was thawed ,the tomatoes were grilled and the avocado slices had been macerated in the customary dunking of salt and lemon juice.  Since fresh organic lettuce leaves had to be given a miss we decided to do grilled open sandwiches alternating between egg and bacon.

We cooked the bacon and then the eggs in the bacon fat ( shame to waste it !!!) and laid it on the grilled tomatoes and avocado. It seemed so incomplete and needed that extra something. I had almost forgotten about the parsley pesto we had made for dinner the previous night. We had just enough to do generous dollops over the top of this quickly oven grilled impromptu meal ,gave it another 2-3 minutes under a hot grill and it looked delicious !

The fact that it turned out to be one of the tastiest dinners we ever had pushes this particular pesto into the memorable meal slot ! For me a pesto is about about a well rounded taste and a chunky texture. I feel the parsley has a bit of a more strong leafy flavour than the basil pesto.

That could be my palate talking but that’s why I like to add a few basil leaves to remove the edge of that parsley aftertaste. I m not sure if what I am saying makes sense but basically you can omit the basil if you want to. And if you are substituting parmesan, do so with a hard cheese , one that gives a good body to the pesto and not something which will go soft and squishy. A Grana Padano is a good substitute. This is the one ‘imported’ cheese I like to buy when it is available at my neighbourhood super market.