Silencio Pesto!

Summer. Warm breezes, pub gardens, an alarming amount of wasps and glorious food. I love the options summer dishes have to offer. Salad is one of my favourite foods as it is so variable so when salad season comes, my goodness do I get extra excited!

I was having a very relaxed day off in the hot hot London weather and decieded to watch Luca and suddenly had a burst of inspiration. Pesto! I really really wanted some pesto. So with a quick trip to the shops and wayyy to much excitement I began to craft!

I know what you are thinking. 'so you just put everything in a blender and boiled some pasta? wow, so interesting' but dear reader how you are mistaken! I had the brilliant idea to make the pesto by hand. A traditional pesto, pounded together with a pestle and mortar.

Why do I make things difficult for myself? I'm not really sure. :)

Why make pesto an easy way?! People say that you can taste when something has been made with love and I'm pretty sure my excitement to make pesto by hand translated into the taste!

As my housemate Louise is Vegan, most of this food I make is too, so this pesto would have no cheese. Also, as I rent a flat in london, I can't afford to buy pine nuts so we must substitue that too!

Our base ingredients for this very homemde pesto involve, fresh basil, wild garlic, sunflower seeds, olive oil and salt. But not just any salt, flaky salt.

The process was fairly easy, just adding small amout of each ingredient bit by bit. By adding the flaked salt, it helps break down the leaves and release some of the liquid they store. I was given the wild garlic by someone who's garden was beginning to be consumed by it! I have never cooked, eaten or used it before so I was more than happy to take it off their hands! It worked so perfectly in the pesto as it bulked it out quite alot and fresh basil can be quite pricey now! If your'e looking to make your own and are living that budget life like myself, insted of using all basil, you can substitute rocket leaves insted of wild garlic. It adds a nice peppery kick! No sunflower seeds? No problem! Almonds or pupkin seeds work well too!

With this I think it is quite difficult to mess up. Everything is easily fixed, and its all based on your own taste anyway!

I really want to make this again and refine it so that I can add it to my book. Speaking of which, for those who did not know, I'm writing a cook book! I have been doing so for what

feels like forever but it's coming along. I'm not really sure how to put everything together but I am really enjoying the recipe development side of things. Realistically, I would love to have it published in the next 2 years, but working full time and having a social life (or attempting to) means it becomes difficult to balance everything. In a dream world I would work part time (earning enough to pay for things, the london way :) ) and work on my book, or work with people on my book. I want to do more for my career, I'm excited for my future and I want to help rise the dough (hehe) anyway I can.

Next steps for me? I want to be more active on here, I will be aiming to post once every 2 weeks (once a week if I am extra organised). My theory is, if I write more I will get myself more hyped about my work, meaning more progress! If I stick to my plan, not only will be be benifical for me but you get lots more to read! I'm so nice to you, you're welcome :).

So, my dear reader, are you now in the mood for pesto? Do you think I'm crazy for making it by hand? Do you want to attempt to make your own! If you do, please let me know in the comments or send me a DM on insta!!!

Thank you for reading entry 5! And entry 6 should be here by the 19th!

Get ready!!