Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto

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During the lockdown, I did what everyone else did: Went through all my kitchen cabinets, cleaning them out, and finding little bits and bags and jars of stuff that I should have used a long time ago, but didn’t.

You did do that – right?

Mine was quite a purge. I’ve had so many things from travels, friends, food companies, houseguests, strangers, etc. that my drawers and cabinets were out-of-control. I posted some pictures on social media of the things that I appeared to be running low on, but that I was anxious to use up, and people, kindly, offered to send me more…which would have negated the whole idea of the purge. The time had come to use things up.

One thing I found that I had a lot of sun-dried tomatoes. I stocked up in Italy (I think?) and had a few jars from testing the Sun-dried Tomato, Bacon, and Cornmeal Madeleines for the apéro snack chapter in Drinking French. As a California restaurant cook in the 80s and 90s, I’ve seen more than my share of sun-dried tomatoes.

Fast-forward to today, and I was once again faced with an overload of what we used to call, in restaurant lingo, SDTs. Not to be confused with STDs. (Although things were pretty rowdy in those days and I’m pretty sure those were a subject of discussion in some of the kitchens I worked in too.)

The great thing about this sun-dried tomato pesto is that you can make it any time of the year and you can tweak it by adding a handful of basil in place of the rosemary. The recipe makes a little more than you’ll need probably for one meal or appetizer, but it keeps in the refrigerator for at least a week or so, and is great when you’re craving full-on tomato flavor and it’s not quite tomato season. It’s versatile enough to be tossed in pasta, smeared on pizza before baking or on flatbread after baking, spread on toasts as an appetizer with bits of goat cheese crumbled on top, alongside grilled fish, meat, or vegetables, as a spread on a sandwich or burger (in place of ketchup), or even snuck in the middle of a grilled cheese sandwich.

I used sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil to make this. To make the pesto, you use the oil that the sun-dried tomatoes are packed in (hooray for using everything...), adding additional olive oil (if necessary) to bring the total amount to 1 cup (250ml.) That was the right amount of oil for me but since jarred tomatoes can vary, start with 3/4 cup (180ml) of oil, adding more until it's a nice, spreadable consistency.If you don't have a food processor you could make this in a mortar and pestle or a blender. I like to keep it a little on the chunky side so if using a blender, keep an eye on the texture. If you don't have walnuts, you can use almonds or another nut. Note: This recipe makes quite a bit. It's a good amount if you want to toss it with warm pasta for a main course, but you can cut it in half if just using it as a spread. Or you can make the full recipe and freeze half of it to use at a later date.

2 cups (220g, 8 ounces - drained weight) sun-dried tomatoes, packed in olive oil
3/4 to 1 cup (180-250ml) olive oil from the sun-dried tomatoes, with additional extra-virgin oil olive to get the amount needed
1/2 cup (50g) toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (45g) grated Parmesan cheese
2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh rosemary leaves
pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
freshly-squeezed lemon juice

Coarsely chop the sun-dried tomatos and put them in the bowl of a food processor. Add 3/4 cup (180ml) of the oil, chopped walnuts, Parmesan, garlic, rosemary, red pepper flakes, salt, and a few drops of lemon juice.
Pulse in the food processor until it's a cohesive paste. Taste and add some or all of the remaining 1/4 cup (60ml) oil, additional salt, chopped rosemary, or lemon juice, if desired.

Notes

Serving: See serving suggestions at end of post.

Storage: The pesto will keep two weeks in the refrigerator. It can also be frozen for 2 to 3 months, or longer.

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