Broad Bean Pesto

I’ve been thinking about this for a while and decided to give it a go this evening. I originally thought I’d use basil but since I didn’t have any but do have two huge mint plants, it seemed sensible to use that instead.

I don’t know what quantities I used but I steamed the broad beans and then podded them, added them to the blender with the mint, oil, garlic, toasted pinenuts, parmesan and salt and pepper. The consistency of the beans meant the oil was quickly sucked up so I added some more and then let it cool.

It was interesting, it had a very different consistency to normal pesto – the beans gave it a much coarser texture but the mint worked really well. The whole dish was much lighter too which would be lovely on a summer’s evening. Sadly we don’t seem to be having too many of those so I added some roasted tomatoes and some pinenuts to deepen the flavour. It really worked but then I think the combination of tomatoes and pinenuts would rescue any dish.