Beet and pine nut pesto is a great sauce perfect for dressing pasta or even putting on toasted bread for an appetizer. It is prepared in 10 minutes and is really simple to make. In this case, I used pre-cooked beets that are found vacuum-packed at the supermarket, already peeled. So even faster. It’s a somewhat different variant, to change from the classic basil pesto. It’s a truly eye-catching pesto, with a beautiful, vibrant color, slightly sweet, it might even appeal to the little ones who may not like to eat a lot of vegetables. The pine nuts then add that extra touch of flavor and are perhaps used too little in preparations, yet they are good and rich in minerals, proteins, and fiber. If you want, you can also pair this pesto with:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4 Servings
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for preparing beet and pine nut pesto
- 10.5 oz beets (pre-cooked)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons Pecorino Romano (grated)
- 0.7 oz pine nuts
- Half clove garlic
- to taste salt
- to taste herbs (thyme, marjoram, sage, rosemary)
Tools
- Pitcher
- Immersion blender
- Kitchen scale
- Spoons
Steps for making beet and pine nut pesto
To prepare beet and pine nut pesto, first take the pre-cooked beet, peel it if it still has the skin. Cut it into pieces and put it in a tall-sided pitcher. Peel the garlic, remove the central core and use half a clove or even less if you don’t like strong flavors, then add the extra virgin olive oil, salt, pine nuts, and 2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of grated Pecorino cheese.
Now start blending with the help of the immersion blender, you should get a creamy pesto perfect for dressing pasta, to be eaten together with toasted bread.
Storage and tips
You can store beet pesto in the fridge in an airtight container or a glass jar for a couple of days.
If you don’t like garlic, you can simply omit it.
If you want, you can use only grated Parmesan cheese or only Pecorino.
You can add basil leaves.
You can add basil leaves.
