Pumpkin Seed Pesto

Today I leave you with a lip smacking, mouth watering, taste tantalizing recipe for pumpkin seed pesto. I leave you this recipe before I embark on a journey back to my homeland. I leave you this recipe to tide you over through the weekend. Starting Monday, I will be blogging from a small town near Toronto. I am heading to this small town too spend some well needed time with my sister {little M} and her new baby {baby J}. Unfortunately, Mr. H will be staying in Seattle while I embark upon this journey. He will have to man the post, water the plants, dust the shelves, and pay the bills. I will miss him dearly, but in no time at all, he will also be making the journey back to our homeland. We are quite fortunate that our families live within a 20 mile radius from each other, and we can spend the holidays with both. Pretty soon I will be sharing recipes for Christmas cookies, mulled wine, apple cider, salted caramels, and all that good Christmas stuff. I am planning to make baby J his first gingerbread house, hopefully hear his first word, and see him crawl for the first time. I promise that my blog with not turn into a baby/mommy/craft blog. I have nothing against that genre of blogging, but that is not in my interest nor my intent. Plus, I'm way too cynical for that.

I have a whole stack of homemade, passed down from generation-to-generation recipes to share with you when I get home. Little M has a whole recipe box full of these gems. At first, there shall be a little adjustment. My food props will change, the lighting will be different, I won't have the convenience of living on top of a grocery store. I will need to plan, make lists, write notes. These are all things that I am not very good at, but I will be living with baby J and little M and these sorts of things will be necessary. On my journey, my big fluffy Ody will be accompanying me. He will take his first flight, spending 6 hours in a crate, and I am terrified. I'm hoping he will be ok, as in, not have a panic attack. Although the chances of him having a major freak-out are very unlikely, but the chances of me freaking out are pretty high. Self-sedation with a high dose of Benadryl may be necessary.

Enough about me, my dog, and my fears. Let's talk about pesto! Do you like pesto? I like pesto. I like it on my bread, in my pasta, and on my pizza. I like it even more when it has pumpkin seeds, parsley, sage, and garlic. Toss it all into a food processor and spin it around. You will witness the most fragrant aromatic scent you have ever encountered. It is truly wonderful. Drizzle in some olive oil and these herbs and seeds will magically transform into something even better: a rich, earthy, aromatic, flavorful spread that will pair wonderfully with goat cheese and fresh bread. The smells that your food processor will generate from these very few ingredients will be mind blowing. You will want to eat this pesto on everything, and will struggle to resist the temptation to eat it by the spoonful. It is so quick and easy to make, with very few ingredients. I love when I find recipes like this, and am thrilled to share it with you. I will see you next week. Have a great weekend!

PUMPKIN SEED PESTO RECIPE (print)
makes 1 cup
recipe adapted from Cafe Flora Cookbook
notes: you can purchase pumpkin seeds that have already been toasted, but if not, raw pumpkin seeds will suffice.

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup green pumpkin seeds, shelled and roasted
10 fresh sage leaves
1/2 cup fresh parsley leaves
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil or more
1/8 tsp salt to taste

If you have purchased raw pumpkin seeds, toast them in a frying pan on medium heat, shaking occasionally, until they start to pop. Remove from the heat and place into a bowl.

Wash and pat dry the sage and parsley. Remove the leaves from their stems. Peel the garlic. Place the sage, parsley, and garlic into the food processor. 

Add the pumpkin seeds to the food processor and puree all of the ingredients until the mixture starts to stick together and become crumbly. 

With the machine still running, slowly add the olive oil and continue to puree until the mixture resembles a paste. You may want to add more or less olive oil depending on your preference. 

Add 1/8 tsp of salt, or more if it suits your liking, and combine.

Spread the pesto onto 1/2 inch slices of baguette and top with soft goat cheese. Pesto can also be used as a marinade, pasta sauce, and dressing for sandwiches. You can store in the fridge for up to two weeks.