Meyer Lemon Pesto
By Tom // Posted 9 February, 2011 in: Food + Drink, Recipes
Not three hours after Martha published the news yesterday that we had taken delivery of a winter-blues-banishing box of limes and Meyer lemons from the good people at FruitShare, we received an email from one of their marketing people thanking us for the post. Lest you think something untoward has taken place behind your innocent blog-reading back, dear blog-reader, let me assure you that we bought our fruit share fair and square. Martha didn’t receive any kind of solicitation or compensation for posting about it – at least not that she has told me about!
In addition to some nice words about the blog – flattery is the surest route to any blogger’s heart – our fruity correspondent included some recipes, and, in a change from most food marketing, the recipes actually looked pretty good. I was particularly drawn to the Meyer lemon pesto, since I am a fan of off-beat pestos. After work, with neither plans nor ingredient shopping trips made for dinner, I found myself making Meyer lemon pesto sooner than expected.
Martha was glad I did; she loved the bright lemon flavor. I personally found it a little bitter from the pith, but it did get me thinking of warmer climates.
This recipe is basically the same as the one I received in the email, except I substituted parsley for basil and sunflower seeds for pine nuts – all in the interest of avoiding a trip to the store.
Meyer Lemon Pesto
- One Meyer lemon, cut into pieces and seeded
- ½ cup parsley leaves
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 T toasted sunflower seeds
- ¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated
- 3 T olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Process first four ingredients in food processor until ground. Transfer to a small bowl; stir in cheese and oil. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
We ate it over fresh fettuccine; it would be a great accompaniment to a white-fleshed fish, as well.
4 comments | Blogging, fettuccine, Italian, lemons, limes, Marketing, Meyer lemons, Pasta, Pesto
This entry was posted by Tom on Wednesday, February 9th, 2011 at 6:41 am and is filed under Food + Drink, Recipes. You can subscribe to responses to this entry via RSS.
Just in time! Wow, I’m defrosting cod fillets for dinner and I have a Meyer lemon that I was deciding to do something with! Got parsley as well, and I’ll substitute in turn pine nuts for the sunflower seeds. Thanks!
Let me know how it comes out!
Actually it turned out really good. Noting what you said about the pith, I carefully trimmed most of it out of my lemon and it wasn’t at all bitter in the pesto. As Martha said it was lovely and bright, very lemony. I liked it on the cod fillets (although I have got to figure out how to cook cod so it doesn’t get tough) but I liked it even better on spaghetti the next night. Better than the recipe in Cooks for spaghetti al limone.
Good call on removing the pith! Collaborative learning through blogs!