SPINACH AND PINE NUT PESTO
- 2 cup (tightly packed) baby spinach leaves (about 2Â ounces)
- ÂĽ cup toasted pine nuts
- 1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (from about 1Â lemon)
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice (from about ½ lemon)
- â…“ cup olive oil
- â…“ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- ½ teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Instructions:
In the past few years, Americans have been treated to a dazzling array of new convenience food; the supermarket aisles are lined with items you can eat right now! I’m not a big fan of most of these. But I am a big fan of prewashed, pretrimmed greens, like the bags of baby spinach that are almost universally available. Cleaning fresh spinach is no treat: The bunches are filled with sand and grit, requiring multiple changes of water to remove; and it’s time-consuming to separate the fibrous stalks from the tender leaves. But these bags of baby spinach, on the other hand, are ready to go: Tear open the bag, dump the greens into a salad bowl, and they’re ready to dress. Or just toss into the sauté pan with a little olive oil and garlic, and you can be eating bright, fresh spinach in mere seconds. Or throw into the blender with some other ingredients—and bingo! Pesto!
- In the Bowl of a food processor, combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon zest, and lemon juice. With the machine running, gradually add the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy.
- Transfer the pesto to a medium bowl. Stir in the Parmesan and ½ teaspoon each of salt and pepper. Season the pesto with more salt and pepper to taste. (The pesto can be made 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)
- This is great with grilled chicken.