The recipe for this little gem lettuce pesto had been in a drawer for three years. I finally decided to open that drawer, remake it, photograph it, and write it down. It was about time, eh! 😀
By any chance… do you remember a certain recipe from three years ago? It was a quickly prepared cold dish one evening: the tuna on a bed of little gem lettuce (to which I’ll change the photo one day, I promise).
So. My first little gem lettuce pesto was born as a consequence of that recipe: the next day, using the leftover lettuce, I “invented” this pesto, and being super satisfied, I wrote the recipe on a piece of paper, which I still keep, convinced that within a few days I would publish it here on the blog.
I confess that as a rookie blogger at the time, I truly and proudly believed that I had a great idea and had really come up with a nice alternative pesto, only then… with a simple search online, I immediately realized that I hadn’t invented anything at all! 😂😅
Oh yes, I’ve learned that by now, that there’s not much left to invent in the kitchen, that there’s always someone who’s had the same ideas as you before you – it happened also when I “invented” the open strudel! do you remember? 😀
In the three years since that first little gem lettuce experiment, I have published quite a few other “alternative pestos,” but for the little gem lettuce pesto, the inspiration had faded, and I didn’t remake it. To be honest, during this whole period, I had actually stopped buying little gem lettuce; I think I bought it only once in three years.
But time passes, and I strongly believe in historical cycles…
And lately, I don’t even know why, I’ve started buying little gem lettuce regularly again.
From there, the step to remake the little gem lettuce pesto was short. 🙂
👇 If you too are fans of quick dressings, here are some more ideas for an alternative pesto: 👇
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 5 Minutes
- Portions: 3
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients
- 2 3/4 cups little gem lettuce, fresh
- 1/4 cup almonds
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- 1 clove garlic
- 6 leaves basil
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- pepper
- 1 tbsp ricotta (or other fresh cheese, optional)
Tools
- Chopper
Steps
Wash the little gem lettuce and basil leaves.
Drain the excess water. No need to spin dry; if the lettuce is moist, it will be chopped better, and you can reduce the oil a bit.Cut the almonds in half.
Place all ingredients in the food processor cup.
Run the food processor for a couple of minutes.
Pour the little gem lettuce pesto into a sauté pan.
Add the freshly drained pasta to the pan and toss. It may be useful to add a tablespoon or two of pasta cooking water to soften.
Optionally, add a tablespoon of plain yogurt or ricotta or another fresh cheese to make the little gem lettuce pesto creamier.
Enjoy your meal!
Salt-Free Tips
Remember that I cook without added salt. 😉
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Gradually reduce the salt, the palate needs to get used to it slowly and shouldn’t notice the progressive reduction.
■ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
■ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
■ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
■ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
■ Use my salt-free vegetable granules and gomasio.
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Occasionally allow yourself an exception to the rule. It’s good for your mood and helps you persevere.
If you do not want to or cannot give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes, salting according to your habits.
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