Pesto is a sauce, originally from Italy,  traditionally consisting of crushed garlic, pine nuts, coarse salt, basil leaves, Parmigiano-Reggiano(Parmesan cheese) and pecorino sardo (cheese made from sheep’s milk), all blended with olive oil. As much as I love the classic pesto , today I wanted a to make sauce with the ingredients in hand, and realised pesto is a great way to sneak in veggies in your food in the form of sauce, so tried this new pesto recipe – Peas and Avocado pesto .

As I said, traditional pesto tastes awesome, but from the time I have started food blogging, I’ve realised that experimenting is a great way to personalise your classics and add lots of fun and flavour to your cooking!!I love having fun with different ingredients.

Im really inspired by Happyskinkitchen’s recipes. She creates amazing range of vegan recipes using a variety of healthy vegan ingredients. This peas and avocado pesto is inspired by her recipes.I haven’t followed any recipe in particular and my recipe isn’t vegan, but its a mix of different ingredients readily available, main ingredients being the peas and avocados.To make the vegan version, you can replace the ingredients . I have mentioned the replacement ingredients in my post, and recipe notes .

To make the peas and avocado pesto –

Dry roast a few garlic cloves (just separate the cloves, with the skin on) in a pan. Keep aside.

In the same pan heat a little olive oil, and add a small chopped onion. Sauté for 2-3 minutes, and add peas .

I used frozen peas in my sauce, as fresh peas are not easily available here. But in India, where fresh peas are in abundance in winters, you can use fresh peas. Cover with lid and let the peas cook for 10-15 minutes , so that they become tender.Let it cool.

If you are using fresh peas, you might have to cook it for a little more time . Also if  using fresh peas, you can consider boiling these first to make these tender, and then sautéing with onions.

Now add the sautéed peas and onions, dry roasted garlic cloves, avocado, pine nuts( you can dry roast the pine nuts as well before adding- or use the pine nuts as is), parmesan cheese, few fresh coriander leaves, salt, pepper cloves, evoo and juice of half a lemon in a mixer. Blend to form a smooth paste.Add a littlewater, to get the required consistency in the sauce.Your pesto us ready.

To make this vegan , replace parmesan with nutritional yeast!

Drizzle it with a little EVOO, and your creamy delicious peas and avocado pesto is ready, to be slathered on your toaste, or to dip in your salad! Im going to try making pasta with this sauce, and will update the recipe soon.

If you try this recipe, I will be happy to know! Leave a comment ,your suggestions, questions and feedback, in the comments section below.I will be happy to revert.

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Peas and avocado pesto

anubhav mahajan

A Creamy blend of green peas, and avocado dip. Perfect to go with your breads, snacks, veggies, top it on your oatcakes, or make it a sauce for your creamy green pastas.

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 15 mins

Course chutneys, dips, sauces

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup peas fresh or frozen
• 1/2 avocado
• 1 small onion
• 7-8 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup pinenuts you can replace these with cashews or blanched almonds
• few sprigs fresh coriander leaves
• 1/4 cup parmesan to make this vegan use nutritional yeast
• 4-5 whole pepper cloves
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 tbsp E V olive oil
• water
• 1/2 tsp olive oil for cookingg
• Juice of half a lemon

Instructions

 

• Dry roast the garlic cloves (with the skin on).Keep aside.
  
• In a pan, heat a little olive oil. Add chopped onions and sauté for 1-2  min.
  
• Add peas, mix, and cover for 10-15 min till they are tender and cooked.Fresh peas might take longer to cook.Once cooked, let it cool.
  
• In a blender add all the ingredients- peas and onions, roasted garlic, avocado,pinenuts,fresh coriander leaves, parmesan,pepper cloves, salt, 1 tsp EVOO,Juice of lemon, and a little water.
  
• Blitz until it forms a smooth paste.Your peas and avocado pesto is ready.
  
• Drizzle the leftover EVOO on top, and serve it!
  

Notes

• To make this vegan- use nutritional yeast instead of parmesan.
• If you do not have pine nuts available, use soaked cashews or blanched almonds instead, but the taste will vary. I have tried all options and all taste good in their own way!
• Adding roasted garlic , really enhances the garlic flavour, hence I used roasted garlic. You can use raw garlic as is.
• If you want you can dry roast the pine nuts as well, before adding to the blender. That enhances the nutty flavour.