Mushroom Pesto
This Mushroom Pesto makes such an easy meal or appetizer. I use this on pasta today, but you can spread it over crostini for an amazing appetizer. Pesto is anything you crush or in Italian we say“pestare”. Mushrooms add a thick texture to this pesto and a hearty feel. They are the meat of the vegetarian diet. Today I am making a risotto with it.
When we were little, my grandparents and parents would forge for mushrooms. It was so much fun. We would go out to the woods and my nonno Salvatore knew so much about the different kinds of mushrooms. I wish I had his skills or paid more attention to the different types. As we got older, it wasn’t cool to go mushroom picking. If you want to start forging mushrooms, get educated https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/blog/how-to-hunt-mushrooms/
One of my favourite mushroom dishes on the blog https://recipesatmytable.com/mushroom-orzo/
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon each of butter and olive oil
- 500 gr. fresh sliced mushrooms (I used baby cremini)
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1/2 tsp cugar
- 1/2 cup toasted walnuts
- ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- The juice and zest of half a fresh lemon
- salt and pepper
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- extra olive oil for storing
Process
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add olive oil. Place in the onion and mushrooms. Sprinkle in the 1/2 tsp of sugar. The sugar will help to caramelize the vegetables. Remove saucepan from heat and set aside and let cool.
Toast the walnuts.
Set aside a little of the fried onions and mushroom for garnish. About 1/2 a cup. Place the cooled mushroom mixture to a blender. Now add the walnuts,parmesan, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pulse blender a few times before blending until mixture is finely ground. Then stream in the olive oil.
I preserve it in a jar. It lasts in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. Top off with some extra olive oil.
Tonight we made mushroom risotto. I boiled the rice until al dente. Reserve one cup of the rice water. Then once drained I added some of the mushroom pesto, some of the rice water. 1/4 cup parmesan and 2 tbsp of butter and stirred.
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