Make Pesto From Chard Yourself – That’s How It Works

Make pesto from chard yourself

Anyone who likes to cook or eat has certainly heard of pesto and chard.

• According to the classic recipe, pesto is a mixture of basil, garlic, olive oil, roasted pine nuts, coarse salt, and hard cheese, usually parmesan.
• So pesto is a kind of paste or herbal mass that tastes very delicious in salads, with pasta, as a spread, etc.
• Chard is a vegetable that looks very similar to spinach. The leaves are up to about 30 cm long, can be wrinkled or smooth, and vary in leaf color.
• You can also prepare Swiss chard in a similar way to spinach, although the leaf and stem are edible, the roots are not.
• If you cannot plant and harvest chard yourself, you can get the vegetables in health food stores or supermarkets, fresh or frozen.

Swiss chard pesto

You have already read above which ingredients the traditional pesto consists of. But since there are no limits to your imagination, it is possible to derive different variations from the basic recipe. Whether you use the salt with e.g. B. pepper, chili, etc., is solely up to your taste.

recipe ideas

A variation on the basic recipe.

• 350 g Swiss chard
• 100 g pine nuts
• 100 g hard cheese (e.g. Parmesan)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• approx. 100-150 ml olive oil as required
• Coarse salt, peppercorns, and other spices to taste

Swiss chard pesto: the preparation

First, cut the chard into small pieces and briefly boil it for a few minutes. Then roast the kernels.

• Now grate the cheese or cut it into fine pieces. In the meantime, the chard and the seeds cool down.
• Now chop the chard, garlic, and seeds. You can simply place the seeds between two tea towels and roll them over them with a rolling pin.
• If you are working with a mortar, this preliminary work should not be underestimated. The finer the preparatory work, the easier it is to process in the mortar.
• If you work with an electric chopper, you should choose the smallest level. The faster the knives spin, the warmer the ingredients get, and important ingredients are lost.
• If the chard, garlic, cheese, and seeds are small enough, you can put them in the mortar and crush the ingredients further.
• During this process, gradually add a little oil, coarse salt, and peppercorns.
• These will help you grind. Seasoning in between is exciting and delicious and protects against adding too much spice.
• Once you have pureed all the ingredients together and you have a homogeneous mass, your pesto is ready.

Swiss chard pesto variations

As already mentioned, it all depends on your good taste. You can always change up your pesto or keep your favorite pesto recipe.
It can be supplemented e.g. as follows.

• Instead of pine nuts, you can also use pumpkin or sunflower seeds.
• You can also add fresh tomatoes, dried tomatoes are particularly good.
• Some cooks add some lemon or orange juice to the finished pesto.
• A carrot, fresh parsley, chives, thyme, and rosemary also give your pesto a personal touch.