Home Made Broad Bean Pesto

Our broad beans have been growing quite nicely.  We thought the flowers were pretty and the beans would be along fairly soon, but upon further investigation, we found lots of pods ready for picking which was a surprise!

So, we decided to make one of our favourites from this book, Broad Bean Pesto.  It's so simple, and everyone loves it.  It's milder and creamier than regular pesto made with basil and it takes about 5 minutes to make (once you have podded the beans!)

You will need salt, pepper, 200 grams of fresh broad beans - podded, 2 handfuls torn basil leaves, 3 tablespoons of pine nuts, 5 teaspoons of extra virgin olive oil, 100 grams of freshly grated parmesan cheese.  These ingredients will make enough pesto for about 500 grams of pasta.

Place all ingredients in the blender and blend until smooth.  Or, if you want to be more authentic, you can use a mortar and pestle!

Cook up your pasta and reserve a couple of tablespoons of the cooking water to loosen your pesto if necessary.  

We enjoyed ours with homemade pasta.

Bon appetito!