This pesto recipe was a bit of a happy accident. I call it an accident in that, while I was house-sitting for my mother, her wildly growing herb garden wilted in the cold snap. Rather than attempting to resuscitate the plants, I preened them and ended up with an abundance of rocket and parsley.

I’ve now written a handy guide for growing and storing your own herbs after I learned my lesson – but at least I have some wonderful zesty pesto to show for it!

Ingredients 

• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 2 cups rocket leaves
• 1/4 cup pinenuts
• 1/2 cup flat leafed parsley
• 4 tablespoons of lemon infused olive oil (OR use regular extra virgin olive oil and add 1 tsp lemon zest)

Method

1. Lightly toast the pine nuts in a fry pan over a medium heat until browned. Set aside to cool. Note that there is about a three second difference between ‘toasted’ and ‘burnt’ pinenuts so watch them like a hawk!
2. Place all of the dry ingredients in a food processor. While processing, slowly add the oil until everything is well combined. Serve with fresh warm bread, your favourite poultry, tossed with boiled potatoes……  the possibilities are only limited by your tastebuds!