We’ve had a couple of really, really wonderful sun-filled days; I think if I don’t document them somehow, it’ll feel like they never happened when I’m back to trudging through puddles in my rain boots a week from now.

I’m talking tank-tops and flip-flop weather; it is as if we skipped spring and headed straight for summer. I even stopped taking my Vitamin D pills for fear I’d overdose.

Unfortunately, my week was inundated with mostly ‘stuff’ that didn’t include spending my free time outdoors – from the mounting pile of laundry to filing tax adjustments with the CRA and a million other tedious little tasks in between.

Thankfully I had pesto so dinners weren’t too much of a chore; I love pesto for this, I can quickly toss a spoonful with pasta, potatoes, couscous, quinoa… whatever, and hey presto, dinner is ready!

Whenever I’m making pesto, I make sure to double the recipe and freeze some for later, and boy, does it ever come in handy.

It took me a while to come around to making this marcona almond and mint pesto; I’ve become quite enamoured with these almonds in recent years, I went from not knowing they existed to wanting to put them in everything.

I get like that with certain foods sometimes, I discovered green raisins at the nut store last week and I’m having a moment with it also, I want to make soda bread with them badly.

I already love almonds in pesto, they impart a nutty savoury taste and make the sauce really shine.

Marcona almonds are a special kind of almonds, delicate and sweeter, they have a more buttery flavour than regular almonds. It’s my favourite nut to snack on at the moment.

Mint and marcona almonds make a wonderful pairing in this pesto, the buttery sweet flavours of the almonds compliments the mint’s refreshing and bright essences, and a nice fruity extra-virgin olive oil rounds out the pesto beautifully.

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Marcona Almond and Mint Pesto

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup toasted marcona almonds
• 2 garlic gloves (for a milder taste, roast garlic)
• 3 cups fresh mint leaves, packed
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest or zest of a small half lemon
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 – 3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus more to cover the pesto for storage

DIRECTIONS

1. Pulse marcona almonds in a food processor
2. Add garlic, mint leaves, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, freshly ground pepper and salt
3. Pulse a few times to chop the ingredients to make a coarse puree
4. While the food processor is running, gradually add the olive oil through the feed tube, process until it’s well combined with the ingredients – You can make the pesto as coarse or as smooth as you want
5. Check for salt and pepper and add more if desired
6. Use immediately, or store in a jar or airtight container covered in a thin layer of olive oil
7. Enjoy!

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