Cilantro Pesto & Fiesta Stuffed Portobellos

If you like cilantro, here's a delicious and easy recipe to add to your collection! This attractive and zingy cilantro pesto could compliment so many foods;

* Mexican dishes: quesadillas, burritos, beans, nachos
* Spread on pizza or sandwiches
* Use on pasta with tomatoes and olives
*Sauce up some rice, veggies, and tofu
* Use on the side with Indian food
*A zippy dip for grilled tofu
*Mix with cream cheese for an exciting sandwich spread


The recipe comes from The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden by David Hirsch, a lovely book that provides information on how to grow, harvest, and used lots of veggies and herbs. (There's also recipes for tarragon and hazelnut pestos that I hope to try.) Hirsch also recommends you mash the pesto with avocados (yum!), or serve over baked or grilled fish.

We enjoyed this pesto with quesadillas and black beans with goat cheese. Awesome! I also mixed it with some cooked rice, chopped tomatoes, red pepper, black olives, and goat cheese for these zippy Fiesta Stuffed Portobellos.




Cilantro Pesto ( adapted from The Moosewood Restaurant Kitchen Garden ):

1/3 cup almonds
salt & pepper
2 big cloves garlic
1 cup cilantro leaves
1 cup parsley leaves (I used much less)
1 fresh jalapeno (seeded and chopped)
2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil


Grind the almonds, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor until well ground. Add the cilantro, parsley, jalapeno, lime juice, and puree, with about 1/3 of the olive oil. Add the rest of the olive oil in thirds and puree.