Beet and Pine Nut Pesto is an excellent sauce perfect for seasoning pasta or for putting on toasted bread for an appetizer. It takes 10 minutes to prepare and is really simple to make. In this case, I used pre-cooked beets found vacuum-packed at the supermarket, already peeled, making it even quicker. It’s a slightly different variant, a change from the classic basil pesto. It’s a truly eye-catching pesto with a beautiful, vibrant color, slightly sweet, that might even appeal to little ones who might not like eating lots of vegetables. The pine nuts add that extra flavor touch and are perhaps used too infrequently in dishes, yet they are tasty and rich in minerals, proteins, and fiber. If you want, you can also pair this pesto with:
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Inexpensive
- Preparation time: 10 Minutes
- Portions: 4People
- Cooking methods: No cooking
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for making beet and pine nut pesto
- 10.5 oz beets (pre-cooked)
- 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 2 tbsps grated Parmesan cheese
- 2 tbsps 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 to make beet and pine nut pesto
To prepare the beet and pine nut pesto, first take the pre-cooked beet, peel it if it still has the skin. Cut it into pieces and place it in a tall container. Peel the garlic, remove the central core, and put in half a clove or even less if you don’t like strong flavors, then add extra virgin olive oil, salt, pine nuts, and 2 generous tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese and 2 tablespoons of grated Pecorino cheese.
Now start blending with the help of an immersion blender; you should get a creamy pesto perfect for seasoning pasta, to be eaten together with pieces of bread.
Check out my review on the Bosch Ergomixx MSM66120 hand blender
Storage and Tips
You can store beet pesto in the refrigerator 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 or only Pecorino.
You can add basil leaves.
You can add basil leaves.
