Cilantro Pesto

The taste of cilantro pesto reminds me of summer. I wanted to bring a bit of summer to our gray winter, so I whipped this up for dinner.

Cilantro Pesto
Adapted from A Mighty Appetite with Kim O'Donnel

We love to have this with steak. It would also be great way of adding extra fat to drier meats, like chicken. It's great mixed in rice and sauteed potatoes too.

You can use a food processor or blender for this recipe. Depending on the quality of your blender, it may be coarser (versus using a food processor or high-end blender).

1/4 cup almonds
1-2 cloves garlic, to taste (we love garlic so we use 2)
1 bunch of cilantro
1/4 teaspoon cumin
3-4 tablespoons olive oil, depending on the consistency you like
lemon juice, to taste (I usually use a 1/4 to 1/2 a lemon)
salt and pepper

In a food processor or blender add the nuts and pulse until finely chopped. Add the garlic and pulse until finely chopped. Add the cilantro and continue to pulse. While pulsing, drizzle in the olive oil. Add the remaining ingredients, and pulse once more.

This can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator - stir before using. We have also been successful in freezing it and then thawing before use, however we have only tried freezing it for a short duration (< 1 week).  It is so good that it never lasts more than a week in our house.