Pesto (non-dairy)

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Take the Parmesan out of the Pesto and you have a much sharper taste of garlic. Spread this Pesto over Rack of Lamb and you have a mouthwatering treat! The delicious flavor of roasted lamb melts into the Pesto and the result is a spectacular treat. I urge you to try it!

Note: Nutritional Yeast has a funky nutty flavor that can be used to simulate Parmesan. Stir one or two tablespoons into the Pesto if you want to bulk it up and have a more mellow flavor. This method would be particularly good if you’re using the Pesto with pasta.

Prep time: 10 minutes

Pesto- Non Dairy

By Gloria Kobrin Published: January 5, 2015

  • Yield:

  • 1 cup

Ingredients

  • 8 medium garlic cloves peeled
  • 1 cup basil leaves stems removed, rinsed and tightly packed
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts use unsalted sunflower seeds for those who are allergic to nuts
  • 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 1-2 tablespoons nutritional yeast optional

Equipment

  • electric food processor steel knife inserted

Directions

  1. Place garlic cloves in processor bowl and pulse cloves coarsely. Add basil to garlic. Pulse a few times until leaves are coarsely chopped. Add nuts and pulse again a few times. Scrape all the ingredients down from the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add lemon juice. Pulse once or twice. With the processor on, slowly pour oil through the feeding tube and process until all the ingredients are incorporated. Scrape the pesto down from the sides of the bowl again and process a minute more. I like to have a little texture in the pesto so I stop short of fully pureeing it. Scrape pesto out of processor into a small bowl. Stir in optional nutritional yeast at this point. Use Pesto right away or cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.