Chile Basil Pesto
At first glance these eye-catching chile peppers look like red jalapeno. However, they have a different flavor and are less meaty than Jalapeno. Red Fresnos are great roasted and added to salsas. Try grilling them alongside your steaks or in kabobs.
When roasting these they should char, blister, and become soft. Try substituting these in your favorite chile recipes.
Ingredients:
3 large handfuls of fresh basil leaves
2 medium, red chiles
3.5 oz/ 100gm pine nuts (quality ones, with no black ends)
6 oz/180ml extra virgin olive oil, best quality
pinch sea salt and a twist of freshly-milled black pepper
Parmesan to sprinkle on your pesto dish after
a few stripes of chile to garnish
Instructions:
Makes around 300g jar
Wash and spin or pat gently dry the fresh basil. Remove the leaves and place in a food processor. Wash and split the chilis to remove the seeds. Chop roughly and add to the processor bowl.
Place pine nuts in the processor and then blitz up pulsing to begin with, then on speed one and two, until the the mix is in small bread crumb size. Turn on the blender or processor again, on speed one, and drizzle the oil in through the top opening in the lid, slowly and steadily, until the pesto is runny but not too liquid. You may not need all the olive oil. The required consistency depends on what you intend to use the pesto for – dips and spreading need thicker pesto, dough and basting need runnier pesto. See list of uses above for ideas.
Place in sterilised lidded jars and keep in the fridge (ideally use within a week) or freeze in ice cube trays, then bag up and keep frozen ready to defrost the pesto in small amounts as required.
From theredbistro.com