Doing things with pesto, more than cheering up pasta and using it smear over vegetables so dd will eat them.

[Pan]

I have bought myself a Breville chopper/blender/mixing thing, and have just got in the ingredients to make 'pesto alla Pan'.

There MUST be lots of things to do with the magical sauce than just the stuff I mention above.

Does anyone have more imaginative uses for it, that have actually worked?

thanks.

Dh has it in toasted sandwiches, and normal ones.
Also in jacket potatoes.
Nice on chicken I think.

Drip some onto a salmon steak.

you can use it to make a nice crust on fish or chicken - either with or without breadcrumbs.

Or slit open chicken breast and put teaspoon of pesto inside and wrap the breast up in proscuttio or bacon.

You can also drizzle it on the top of soup (in much the way you do with creme fraiche).

Add to cheese on toast or make bruscetta type things with pesto spread on top.

Add to top of pizza or use instead of the tomato sauce on it.

meatballs with pesto mash

chees tomato and pesto tart

add as a kind of marinade to meat e.g. lamb.

yes Armadillo! - I remember making a parmesan and pesto crust on fish a few years ago. Had totally forgotten that.

Big dollop on top of risotto bianco

Spead some on top of a lightly toasted bagel, cover with mozzarella and grill. Arrange 5 halved cherry tomatoes around the bagel hole = "flower bagels" (DD's fave).

I like red pesto on pizzas, instead of tomato sauce.

I also make really easy pitta bread pizzas by spreading pesto on pitta bread, then topping with peppers, olives etc, then cheese and sticking in the oven for about 15 minutes.

You can make quite a nice dip by mixing it with some creme fraiche.

I haven't actually tried putting pesto on meat as marinade but have seen it suggested - have tried the rest though and they work well.

Any kind of white fish works well with pesto, also salmon, and I have heard of it being done with things like sardines, but haven't tried it.

Don't overdo use of pesto.
Use summat else instead.

If you make bread, kneading some into your loaves before the last rising is absolutely fabulous.

Second the pesto on salmon. If you cut a big sheet of tin foil per salmon steak, dribble on a bit of olive oil, whack on a steak, season with pepper then coat with pesto - I put it on pretty thick, about 2tsp per steak. Then fold the foil up over the salmon and scrunch the edges together so that it is in a little sealed bag (try to leave space above the pesto). Then whack in oven for 20 minutes or so. Serve each steak on a bed of fresh rocket, with new potatoes and seasonal steamed veg. Quick, easy and very yummy!

I make a pasta sauce from red pesto with creme fraiche and either bacon and mushrooms or chicken if I have some to hand ... quick and easy and yummmmm!

cook loads of green veg - spinach/ broc etc - puree and add to pesto = loads of veg in pasta sauce and yummy

Wow. And wow.

I have just made the best pesto I have ever tasted in my entire life.

It is pesto with attitude. Uberpesto. Pestoplus. Come-over-here-and-let-me-knock-your-socks-off pesto. .

Made the basic recipe cept used some French garlic, massive bits sent over from S. France at Christmas.

Spread it on some lightly toasted crusty bread, with a large glass of Chianti. We had 30 mins of a hot, Tuscan mid-afternoon, on the coldest Derbyshire night of the year. Utterly heaven. and .

Who needs the food/sex thread? Ha.

Thanks all for your recommendations. Will put this thread on watch and scribble down the ideas at some stage......esp. lionstar's salmon.

and moondog.."overuse" and "pesto" - in the same sentence??? My!