Maqui's Malunggay Pesto

If last last weekend was all about shopping and being crafty, this most recent one was all about cooking.
 
I have been wanting to make my own pesto for the longest time. Feeling empowered because of the food processor that I bought from my ex-director, last Saturday was my d-day! Although we have 3 kinds of basil plants, I opted to go for malunggay which we also have in abundance in our backyard. Malunggay is also much  nutritious compared to basil. To add a touch of Pinoy and because pine nuts are unreasonably expensive (400 bucks for a few grams), I used cashew nuts.  I thought of using kesong puti but that might make my pesto too exotic.
Here the the ingridients:
1 packed cup of malunggay leaves plus a handful more leaves

5 cloves of garlic

1/3  cup cashew nuts

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2/3 cup olive oil

 Put some of the olive oil on a heated pan. Add  the garlic and saute until light brown.
 
Put the cashew and the the cup of malunggay. Mix until the leaves are cooked.
 
 Transfer the  mixture onto the blender. Add the  remaining oil, malunggay and cheese. Pulse until you achieve your desired consistency. 
   
 After blending and blending, I present to you my very first pesto… 
 
 

 
If you have pesto, you can make creamy pesto pasta by saute-ng some onions, putting pesto and adding cream. Put the cooked noodes in the pan and mix until all strands are coated with yummy pesto sauce. I love the combination of cold diced  tomatoes and pesto.

The recipe above was enough for more or less 5-6 servings

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