This incredible celery pesto is exactly what you should make the next time you end up with a ton of leftover leaves. I for one used to throw out at least half of a celery’s leaves after cutting it up for crudites, which is a real shame because I love their aroma and they are a great source of vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, and fiber. The problem is their taste tends to be overpowering, so you can only put so much into a soup or stew. So I finally did what I do when we’ve got too much of any herb or leaf in the fridge, and turned it into a pesto.
You can of course toss it into pasta, but it is actually even better stirred into a risotto (a must-try, that is actually how I first discovered this recipe on a French website), spread on canapes, sandwiches, wraps, or dolloped on a pretty salad. And you can totally be easy-going about the ingredients you put in there. Here I use almonds as the nut and parmesan as the cheese, but you can easily substitute these for cashews or pine nuts and romano or other sharp hard cheese. Never omit the lemon though as well as that extra tbsp of olive oil at the end – that is what keeps any pesto bright green.
Ingredients
- 2 cups of celery leaves, cleaned
- 1/4 cup parmesan or pecorino
- 1/3 cup + 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- Juice of a half lemon
- 1/4 cup almonds (other nuts like pine nuts or cashew also work well)
Instructions
- In a small blender, place all the ingredients except 1 tbsp of olive oil and blitz
- Place in a jar or plastic container and drizzle with an extra tbsp of olive oil. Cover and chill until ready to use.
