Eggplant, basil and almond pesto, one of the many recipes from Homemade pestos, perfect for dressing pasta, pizza and tasty bruschetta, as good as the eggplant pesto with cherry tomatoes and almonds. If you love quick eggplant recipes and are looking for an original idea for a flavorful first course with eggplant, eggplant and basil pesto is just right for you! Homemade eggplant pesto is very simple to make and truly delicious; to make it you need a large eggplant, sun-dried tomatoes, almonds, cheese, basil and olive oil. The recipe is very quick and apart from roasting the eggplant (which you can do in the oven or in an air fryer), the rest is super fast and in the end you’ll have a creamy eggplant pesto that’s delicious. Ready to follow me in the kitchen? Let’s go, but first I remind you that if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
Also look at:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Very inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 10
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Summer and Autumn
Ingredients
- 1 eggplant (large (about 1 3/4 lb))
- 4 sun-dried tomatoes
- 20 leaves basil (approximately)
- 3 oz almonds (peeled and toasted (about 1/2 cup))
- 1 oz pecorino (Tuscan (about 1 oz))
- 2.5 oz parmesan (or Grana)
- 6.75 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (about 3.4 fl oz (approx. 6 3/4 tbsp))
Tools
- Oven or air fryer
- Blender
- Baking tray
Preparation of the eggplant and basil pesto
Rinse the eggplant, place it in the basket of the air fryer on parchment paper and cook for 30 minutes at 392°F, or arrange it on a tray and roast in a convection oven in the same way. In a conventional oven increase the cooking time by 10 minutes, and for smaller eggplants reduce the time. Turn off the oven and let it cool inside the switched-off but still warm oven. Peel the eggplant while it is warm or at room temperature, remove the skin and pull the flesh into shreds, collect it in a colander and let it rest a few minutes so that the excess moisture is removed.
While the eggplants are cooking, bring a small pot of water to a boil, immerse the almonds and turn off the heat. Let them sit for 5 minutes, then drain, let cool slightly and peel.
Toast the almonds in a pan until they brown.
Place in the blender the eggplant, the sun-dried tomatoes, the peeled and toasted almonds, the cheeses, the washed and drained basil, the oil and blend everything until you obtain a smooth cream.
The eggplant pesto is ready; you can consume it immediately at its freshest and most aromatic, or store it in the refrigerator for two days, well sealed in an airtight container.
Alternatively you can portion it and freeze it to use as needed — consume within a few months. With this amount of pesto and a little cooking water to loosen it, you can dress about 2.2 lb (1 kg) of pasta.
From here you can return to the HOME and discover the new recipes!
