Walnut Roasted Red Pepper Pesto (Recipe)

I adore pesto, and it’s a weekly staple in my home. This is a new concoction I tried out last week, that I think is worthy of sharing! If you want a hearty, luscious, and fragrant dinner in under an hour, this is it. The prep work is easy, and the only difficult part is waiting for the red peppers to finish roasting so you can dig in!

The dish is a great take on classic pesto Genovese. Be sure to check that recipe out if you haven’t already!

Read on, and enjoy this fun and pesto recipe!

Hearty Roasted Red Pepper pesto with walnuts, instead of pine nuts. Delicious!

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The Recipe

Time allotment

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Roasting Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Yield: 1 1/2 cup (335g) of walnut roasted red pepper pesto

Cooking Utensils

• NutriBullet / Food Processor / Blender

• One spoon

• Cheese grater

• Frying pan

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Ingredients

• 150g olive oil (+ extra for roasting the red peppers)

• 50g walnuts

• 1/2 cup (10g) basil

• 75g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

• 2 large red peppers

• 1 tsp salt (+ extra for roasting the peppers)

• 1 tsp pepper

• 3 garlic cloves

• 1 tsp lemon juice

• (Optional toppings) 1 tbsp feta cheese, 1 tbsp Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, 1 tbsp crushed walnuts

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)

2. With a knife, cut 2 red peppers into thin strips, and remove seeds

3. Line a baking tray with parchment paper

4. Evenly space out pepper strips on the baking tray

5. Add 3 garlic cloves onto the baking tray

6. Generously drizzle with oil, and add salt to taste

7. Put baking tray in oven to roast for 30 minutes (or until red peppers are fully roasted and fragrant)

8. Remove red peppers from the oven, and allow to cool.

9. While they are cooling, begin cooking a pasta of your choice

   1. Save some of the pasta water for later

1. Turn on a saucepan at low-medium heat

2. Briefly toast 50g walnuts until slightly browned

3. Place the pine nuts in the NutriBullet / Food Processor / Blender, and blend until smooth

4. Place the red peppers, and the rest of the ingredients listed above in NutriBullet / Food Processor / Blender

5. Blend ingredients together

6. Use a spoon or a spatula to wipe down sides of NutriBullet / Food Processor / Blender and stir up contents

7. Blend again until all ingredients are smooth

8. Poor contents of pesto from NutriBullet / Food Processor / Blender into a separate bowl

9. Add pesto to freshly made pasta, and stir

   1. I tend to add 75g pesta to 1 cup (200g) of freshly made pasta

   2. If sauce is not “soft” enough to your liking, add some pasta water!

10. Add desired toppings, and enjoy!

A close-up of the walnut roasted red pepper pesto. Look at those feta-bits! I used radiatori pasta, as it held the shape well.

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Thank you for reading this, lovely! Happy baking!

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