Typically, pesto is made of fresh basil leaves, olive oil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, and pine nuts. While pesto is frequently used to top cooked pasta, it has so many uses other than being a pasta sauce. There are several ways to dress up a recipe with pesto and magically transform the dish. Pesto can add magic to all your dishes.
Appetizers and Dips
Pesto is delightfully combined into various different kinds of appetizer recipes. You can just pour onto crostini and garnish with a grape tomato half or a shred of Parmesan cheese. And if you desire to turn the pesto as a dip itself for vegetables and chips, first blend it with a little bit of sour cream, Greek yoghurt, or cream cheese.
Salad Dressing and Mix-In
Pesto combined with olive oil or mayonnaise sorts a regular salad special and is the ideal dressing for tuna, chicken, and pasta salads. It can also add wonderful flavor when mixed into rice, risotto, or mashed potatoes, or dolloped onto hot vegetables such as cauliflower to turn reasonable into remarkable.
Sandwich Spread
Just pour a little bit of pesto onto the bread before layering the fillings and it will add extra flavor and a little excitement to any conventional sandwich. Pesto is ideal in a tomato-mozzarella panini and evenly pleasant on a classic turkey sandwich.
Sauce and Garnish
Bring some relish to a meekly grilled steak by assisting with a side of pesto sauce. It is certain that every single person in your knowledge—not just the vegetarians—will be looking for the veggie kebabs when they are topped with a bit of pesto. Pesto sauce will even put new life into baked tofu.
Filling or Stuffing
Pesto itself makes an exceptional ingredient for filling into sandwiches and baked breaded chicken and can also be incorporated after blending with ingredients like bread crumbs or cream cheese. It is an outstanding supplement to a grilled cheese sandwich and takes boneless chicken to a whole new dimension when filled inside before breading and baking.
Pizza Topping
A pizza covered with pesto in place of red sauce is a nice variation from the conventional pie. Pesto being so versatile, opens the door to so many peculiar kinds of toppings such as shrimp or grilled chicken, or a vegetarian choice of pizza topped with kalamata olives and artichoke hearts. Pesto pizza is fantastic as a dinner with a side salad.
Breakfast Condiment
If you are among the ones who loves a sauce on the side whether it is ketchup or hot sauce. Then try adding a little bit of pesto with your cooked eggs; it will take it to a whole new level. Be it scrambled, fried, or poached, a dollop of pesto beside some eggs is a marvellous way to begin the day—particularly when there are some home fries on the plate.
Pasta
Pasta is a natural partner for pesto. As you toss hot cooked pasta with the pesto, the heat brings out the fabulous flavors of the basil, garlic, and cheese. But that doesn't mean you should only serve pesto tossed with plain noodles (although that is certainly delicious); there are so many other ways to incorporate pesto into your pasta dishes.
Source: spruceeats