Lemon Balm Pesto
Flavorful lemon balm pesto – the best thing you can do when you have a huge bush of lemon balm growing in your garden.
Prep Time20 minutes mins
Total Time20 minutes mins
Course: Preserves and Canning Recipes
Cuisine: German, Italian
Servings: 10 about 350 g/ 12.2 oz
Calories: 67kcal
- 120 g/ 4.2 oz lemon balm leaves Note 1
- 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ½ cup Parmesan Note 2
- 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ⅓ cup raw whole almonds (Note 3)
- 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed, to taste
- 120 ml/ 4 fl. oz/ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil Note 4
- 5 garlic cloves
- fine sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
Prepare lemon balm: Wash and dry the herbs thoroughly. Remove the leaves from the stalks and weigh the needed amount, only the leaves.
Process herbs: Chop them roughly, place them in a food processor, and process to a rough paste. Scrape the walls of the machine.
Add cubed cheese, whole almonds, roughly chopped garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and oil. Process to obtain a smooth paste. Scrape the walls of the food processor a few times in between.
Transfer to small jars, pressing well with a teaspoon to avoid air holes. Place the lids on the jars, but don't screw them too tightly if you intend to freeze the pesto.
- Weigh just the leaves, not the stalks.
- Freshly grated cheese from a wedge. Pecorino Romano is great as well.
- With their brown, soft peel still on, they don’t have to be blanched.
- Use a mild olive oil, it should not be too bitter, you will taste it if it is. A fruity, mild sort would be great. As an alternative, use a milder oil, like avocado oil or a mix of olive oil and a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, like canola.
- The recipe can be easily scaled. I always make the triple batch in the Thermomix, but that is a large food processor. If you scale the recipe, make sure that everything will fit in your food processor.
- The lemon balm pesto keeps well in the fridge for at least two weeks. To keep it for longer, freeze it, it will keep for at least 1 year.
- The nutrition was calculated considering that 350 g/ 12.2 oz pesto would be around 23 tablespoons of pesto and you would need 2 for one serving. That is, of course, not very accurate, but the best I can offer. The whole batch has 1507 kcal.
Serving: 2tablespoons | Calories: 67kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Cholesterol: 2mg | Sodium: 97mg