Sun Dried Tomato Pesto! The extra flavorful younger sibling to the classic green basil pesto. This recipe is as authentic as it gets and stays true to the Italian classic!
This recipe requires a food processor (or a high powered blender) but aside from that it’s pretty easy.
It’s really important to get high quality ingredients for this recipe. Make sure you have the freshest basil leaves you can find.
Don’t get pre oil soaked tomatoes, you won’t be able to control the amount of oil you have in the final product. This recipe is formulated to be used with dry sun dried tomatoes.
I used raw / unroasted / unsalted pine nuts for this recipe as well.
The most important thing to keep in mind is the quality of your parmesan. Please don’t use pregrated parmesan, the quality is not there at all. Make sure to get parmigiano reggiano in a wedge shape.
Roasting the red bell pepper is really important to impart really good flavor in the pesto. You should do it on an open flame if you can, or on a grill, but if not then you can roast them in an oven at 450 for 15 minutes.
Once the red bell pepper is roated, peel the skin off so you get really tender, sweet smelling flesh.
Blitz the ingredients in intervals, begin with the bell pepper, garlic, and soaked tomatoes. Then add the pine nuts, black pepper, and salt. Blitz again, and add the grated parmesan, basil, and crushed red pepper. Blitz!
Finally, stream in the remaining olive oil while the processor is going.
At this point you can add more crushed red pepper, salt, or black pepper according to your taste preferences!
Store the finished sun dried tomato pesto in an air tight glass container. But make sure not to seal the lid before the pesto is completely cooled. If not, you may run the risk of getting mold in your pesto.
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Sun Dried Tomato Pesto
Equipment
- Food processor (if not, high powered blender)
- Air tight jar or container
Ingredients
- 1 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes
- ¼ Cup Pine Nuts
- 5 Cloves Garlic medium to large, peeled
- ¼ Cup Grated Parmesan
- 1½ tsp Kosher Salt
- ¼ tsp Cracked Black Pepper
- ¾ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil divided ½ and ¼
- 1 Red Bell Pepper
- ½ tsp Crushed Red Pepper
- 10 leaves Basil large leaves
Instructions
- Soak sun dried tomatoes in ¼ cup olive oil.
- On an open flame on your stove top, roast the red pepper until the skin is charred and black. (if you dont have a gas stove top, roast the bell pepper at 450° in an oven for 15 minutes)
- Peel the charred skin off of the roasted bell pepper.
- In a food processor, blend the roasted red pepper, oil soaked tomatoes, and garlic until fully chopped. (it'll be chunky)
- Add the pine nuts, black pepper, and salt and blitz again. (it'll still be chunky)
- Add the grated parmesan, basil, and crushed red pepper and blitz once again. (still sort of chunky)
- Turn on the food processor (or blender) and continuously stream in the remaining ½ cup of olive oil.
- Blend for a solid minute.
- Add salt to taste and enjoy!
- Let cool fully before storing in an air tight glass jar in the fridge.
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