mexitalian pesto

Someday, I am going to have every single last one of you over for a huge fiesta. We are going to eat pasta and pesto and laugh really loud over funny stories.

Let’s not focus on the fact that my kitchen table only seats four.

Or on the fact that the TV is always so loud that we wouldn’t be able to hear each other talk.

We might have to take our fiesta outside – because as our home inspector once told us, our “driveway is bigger than our house”.

Thanks Mr. Home Inspector.

The thing I’m sure you are wondering right now is how we are going to have a fiesta AND eat Italian food.

I make no mistake here – I swear.

Anyone up for some Mexitalian cuisine tonight?

I was – and it helped that a huge bunch of cilantro was only $0.50 at the grocery store.

Have you ever tried to buy basil for that amount of money?

I didn’t think so.

I bought cilantro to make cilantro lime rice for burrito bowls for dinner last night. I used a mere 10 leaves. I was left with many more. As you know, I’m quite the frugal (read: cheap) shopper, and there was ‘no way José’ I was letting that fifty cent cilantro go to waste. What am I, crazy?

Cilantro Pesto

• 1 large bunch cilantro
• 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup almonds
• 3 tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 shakes of black pepper
• salt to taste (or in my case, none)

Directions: This could quite possibly be the easiest recipe known to man. Begin by de-stemming your cilantro by running your thumb and pointer finger down each stem. If you’re left with a few stems, that’s okay – the more fiber, the better.

Place all ingredients into a food processor and pulse until smooth.

The Husband declared this pesto tasted “green” – Thank you, Captain Obvious.

I agree – it does taste green. But, we all love green food right? Unless you’re a certain bacon loving lady.

This is how we will be able to have a fiesta and eat Italian food at the same time.

But you’re going to need to get a hotel room – unless you don’t mind sleeping on my floor… next to Charlie’s cage. He shares his blankets, don’t worry.

Since you’re all coming over though, I have to be honest with you – the best place for taking pictures is in my guest room on the bed. So, if you’re the lucky one who actually gets the bed, you’ll have to pretend like you never saw this pesto stain on the sheets.

It’s a good thing I bought a comforter today because I couldn’t wash those sheets. We’re out of fabric softener.

This recipe only makes 4 servings, so I’m thinking I should multiply it by 500 or so.

But then again, that would mean I would be spending $250 on cilantro.

On second thought, why don’t you just stay home?

Question: Have you ever made a classic recipe using an “out of ordinary” ingredient?

Tagged as: cilantro, italian food, mexican food, pesto, recipe