I love sun-dried tomatoes but was always at a loss as to how to use them–besides just cutting them up and throwing them into salads. Here though is a great recipe that turns them into one of the easiest, quickest dishes you could possibly make. The only one doing the hard work is your blender or food processor. And I do mean hard work. These tough little buggers (the tomatoes, that is) absolutely do not want to be chopped up. But you have to keep at it until they cry “uncle”. What’s convenient about this recipe is that every ingredient goes right into the machine and all you have to do is turn on the switch.
Easy Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Be sure to buy tomatoes that have been packed in olive oil. I think the oil softens them a bit before they enter the blender. I found that buying an 8-ounce jar of sun-drieds yielded the 5 ounces when drained. I tried using some of the olive oil in the jar incorporated with the extra virgin olive oil but didn’t like the taste. So it’s best to drain it away (it’s often a mixture of oil) and just use your regular olive oil.
Give the tomatoes a little chop by hand first to coax them along. Then dump everything into the bowl of your blender or food processsor and let ‘er rip. Stop every 10 seconds or so and take a spatula to push the ingredients back down into the pesto.
Blend until the pesto is smooth then turn it out into a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Plate up some clean lettuce and sliced mozzarella to serve four people. Then gently spoon the pesto over the salad and serve.
Sun-dried Tomato Pesto
Yield: 4 servings
Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 5 ounces sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained
- 1 tablespoon fresh basil, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and rinsed
- 1 garlic clove, roughly chopped
- 1 teaspoon good balsamic vinegar
- 2/3 cup olive oil
- mixed salad greens
- one sliced mozzarella ball
Directions:
- Give the sun-dried tomatoes a little chop after they've been drained.
- Place the tomatoes, basil, parsley, capers, garlic, vinegar and olive oil in a blender or food processor
- Process mixture until smooth
- Add salt and pepper to taste
- Make four salads with the greens and sliced mozzarella and spoon pesto over them. Serve immediately.
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