Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto with Pistachios
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Sun-dried tomato pesto with pistachios is a delicious, easy to make spread, or tossed with pasta. It also makes a great sandwich condiment or as a topping for bruschetta.
My mom and I went to the Pasadena Showcase House a few weeks ago. One of the booths in the bazaar had the most delicious Sun-Dried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto. Though it was wonderful, I wasn’t prepared to spend $12 on a 6 ounce container that would be used for one meal. How hard could it be to make myself? Sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, basil, cheese…I had it covered.
The taste testing lasted for two consecutive weekends. My tasters had the pesto on top of crackers, on bruschetta with goat cheese, straight out of the bowl, and finally, in a cold pasta salad that made it into school lunches for a couple of days.
Making sun-dried tomato pesto with pistachios is easy!
Use oil packed sun-dried tomatoes like these. Blanching the basil in rapidly boiling water for just a few seconds will keep it bright green and fresh looking.
Have a bowl of ice water close to the stove and use a slotted spoon to remove the leaves from the boiling water. This pesto would be delicious on a grilled chicken or fish as well. It pairs well with this Goat Cheese Dip or as part of a Charcuterie Board.
Sun-Dried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup oil packed sun-dried tomatoes
- 1 cup loosely packed blanched basil leaves
- 1/3 cup toasted pistachios
- 1/3 cup finely grated pecorino romano or parmesan cheese
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup olive oil
- Kosher salt to taste.
Instructions
- Have a bowl of ice water ready to plunge the basil leaves into.
- In a large pot of rapidly boiling salted water, drop basil leaves to blanch, 15 seconds. Immediately remove the basil leaves with a slotted spoon and plunge into ice water. Drain and pat leaves dry. Coarsely chop.
- In the bowl of the food processor, add sun-dried tomatoes, pulse to coarsely chop tomatoes. Add chopped basil, minced garlic and toasted pistachios and pulse a few seconds to mix. It should stay coarse, so don't over process.
- Slowly pour olive oil in a steady stream while pulsing a few more seconds.
- Taste and add salt
After eating our fill of Sun-dried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto Bruschetta, I tossed some with pasta and added some fresh tomatoes, baby mozzarella, and some sliced salami for a tasty picnic salad.
Sun-Dried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients
- Sun-dried Tomato and Pistachio Pesto
- 1 pound cooked pasta (penne, farfalle, rotoni)
- 1 container baby mozzarella balls halved
- 8 ounces of cherry tomatoes halved
- 4 ounces of salami sliced
Instructions
- Cook pasta according to directions, drain. Toss with 1 cup of pesto to coat. Cool to room temperature.
- Toss with mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and season to taste with kosher salt and pepper.
Here’s a recipe for traditional Fresh Basil Pesto,
Beautiful! It’s a lovely combination, and so versatile!
Thank you Mimi!
I made the salad for a brunch I hosted on Sunday. Everyone loved it and two families took some home with them!
Oh, good Robin! Thanks for telling me!
I’ve been trying to recreate the Showcase House pistachio pesto for a couple of years! I couldn’t even find it this year (at the house on Arroyo?) I found one similar recipe but it is too tomato-y, although it is a summer staple in our house, especially when I can get sun dried tomatoes in jars for 5.00 Can’t wait to try it. Thanks thanks thanks.
Oh, good Suzanne! glad you found it, yes, the house on Arroyo. We love to spend time at those tasting booths!
My daughter and I brought home a jar of sun-dried tomato pistachio pesto from Florence, Italy, where we vacationed this past October. It was, quite possibly, the most delicious food in the entire galaxy. I knew there was no hope of finding it here in the US, although I optimistically searched every online store and local Italian grocery I could find. Then began the search for a recipe and, voila! Don’t know why it took nearly 3 months for this recipe to pop up in my search, but thank you, thank you for posting this! I am so looking forward to recreating not just the pesto but the whole Florence experience! It will surely bring back some very lovely memories!
So glad you found it Brenda! The internet is amazing with all the information at our fingertips. I hope you like it…at least you’ll have a starting point to tinker around with to try and find the exact flavor you remember.