INGREDIENTS
250g warrigal greens, leaves picked, with baby leaves reserved to use as a garnish
50g sea parsley, leaves & stalks roughly chopped, a few leaves reserved to garnish
3 lemons, juiced
1 cup (250ml) extra virgin olive oil (with a dash extra to cover pesto) 200g roasted macadamias
30 desert limes, (plus a few halved limes to garnish)
4 cloves garlic, peeled
salt flakes & cracked black pepper
¾ cup (60g) grated parmesan
500g pasta such as penne or rigatoni
METHOD
To make pesto, first blanch the warrigal greens in a large saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute, then rinse them in cold water. Drain well and squeeze out excess liquid. Roughly chop the blanched greens and the sea parsley and place them in a food processor with the lemon juice and a little olive oil. Blend until the greens are roughly pureed. Add the macadamia, limes and garlic and continue to blend until the mixture looks like a crunchy peanut butter. Continue blending slowly while drizzling in the remaining olive oil until you have a coarse pesto, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Add the parmesan and pulse to blend through, then check the seasoning. Transfer the pesto to sterilised jars. Let it settle to remove any air bubbles then cover with olive oil.
This recipe makes approx. 750g of pesto. Store in the fridge for up to 3 months. If you want to eat the pesto as a dip, add a little more oil to thin it down.
Cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente, then toss in a little olive oil to prevent it from clumping together. Fold in 100g of pesto per serve, drizzle with olive oil and season with black pepper.
Make a salad of the reserved warrigal green baby leaves, sea parsley and desert limes. Season with salt to taste, then add a little olive oil and pepper.
Divide the pasta among bowls and garnish with the salad. Serve with shaved parmesan and a small bowl of extra pesto to the side, if you like.