Dill and Parsley Pesto

Recently I picked up a huuuuge bunch of dill at Superstore for $2.50. I really only wanted a little for in my dill-cucumber dip but it was $2.50 per bundle, not a weighted price, so home I went with this large bunch of dill.

I took it to my mum’s house thinking maybe she would like some for something, but that’s tough because my dad isn’t the biggest fan of dill. So instead, she suggested making freezer pesto to add flavor to anything I like. In this case the pesto is devoid of cheese so that if I wanted,  I could easily spread it on fish, or stir into greek yogurt for a quick dip. If you want parmesan, just mix in a couple tablespoons to the package you pull out of the freezer.

Because of the cost of pine nuts, this isn’t a terribly affordable thing to make. That being said, one tiny teaspoon of this can completely change what you’re cooking into a flavorful, springlike indulgence. Realistically, this makes about a cup, so you’re getting  a lot of flavoring for that cash too. Sometimes you deal in cheap, and sometimes you deal in value and this is definitely a value scenario.

Dill and Parsley Pesto

$9.62 or $0.64 per tablespoon

1 bunch of dill- $2.48

Quarter bundle of parsley- $0.56

1 cup pine nuts- $6.58

Pantry Items- 3 cloves garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil

Method:

Start by placing your pine nuts and garlic cloves in the bottom of your food processor.Then, take allll of your dill and parsley off of their stalks and drop them into the food processor.

Add salt and pepper to the food processor, then secure the lid and get ready!

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJw2wHWHtWM&w=420&h=315]

Slowly drizzle olive oil into your food processor while it’s running as per the video (it’s my mum operating the food processor, so you know it was done right!). You want this to be a fairly thick but intensely green paste when you turn your processor off.

When it comes time to package this, I recommend tiny plastic dishes. The trick to keeping your pesto green and not oxidized brown is covering the pesto with olive oil. It will either incorporate in when you thaw it, or you can scrape some/most of it off with a spoon when you’re ready to pull it our of the freezer.

What are your favorite things to make with pesto? I think some of this will end up making dill chicken burgers!