I’m not all about completely disguising healthy foods so that we don’t realize what we’re eating. My approach has been to try to introduce a variety of ingredients into our meals, prepared in many different ways, in the attempt to bring out the natural flavors, make healthy foods taste good and allow my family to learn to love and appreciate foods. But I’ll be honest, if I’m able to sneak some spinach in here or there, whether my family notices or not, then I’ll do it.
This version of pesto is one such example. Traditional pesto is intense and, as I guessed, you don’t even notice that the spinach is in there because the other flavors {basil, garlic and pine nuts} dominate. I used spinach in place of half of the basil but you could adjust the ratio up or down according to your taste. As with basic pesto, a little bit goes a long way. You just need a couple of spoonfuls to stir into a pasta sauce or spread on top of a pesto cheese bread.
- Roughly ½ cup basil leaves, washed and patted dry
- Roughly ½ cup spinach leaves, loosely packed
- ¼ cup Romano or pecorino cheese, grated
- ¼ cup pine nuts
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1-2 garlic cloves, minced
- In a blender, blend the cheese and the pine nuts for a few seconds.
- Drizzle in the olive oil and blend the mixture until it is smooth.
- Add the garlic and then the basil and the spinach, a little at a time, blending until smooth.
- Use the pesto sauce immediately or refrigerate it or freeze it in a sealed container.
