Courgette (Zucchini), Feta and Almond Pesto

This was my first blog post after The Foodie Corner went live! It was still early autumn so courgettes (zucchini) were aplenty. I had recently discovered how much I love this vegetable raw, and since you can make pesto with just about anything green, I thought I’d try a favourite combination of mine. Yogurt, feta, spearmint and almonds join the raw courgettes in the blender, and produce this yummy pesto that can be enjoyed warm or cold.

It’s a very easy process like all types of pesto, and the only extra effort required is in squeezing out the excess liquid from the grated courgettes. The only thing I would do differently next time is use less garlic. The amount here is quite small, and for normal people it’s probably fine, but I’ve grown unaccustomed to the flavor of garlic on account of the Mister hating it with all his heart. I very rarely get to eat it now, so I think this has something to do with why the one lonely garlic clove seemed quite strong to me. You can use as per your own preferences.

When I made this pesto I wanted to eat warm spaghetti. So I just put the sauce in the pan before returning the drained pasta to it, and mixed it all over a low heat. After tossing a couple of times it was warmed through (be careful of overheating as the yogurt might curdle).

You can freeze this pesto in individual serving containers, and use as required. For a quick meal grab a container, boil some pasta till slightly undercooked, and drain it keeping some of the water. Put the pasta back in the pan over medium heat and add the frozen pesto (as long as it’s a small quantity so it defrosts quickly). Mix gently and continuously, while gradually adding some of the water until the pesto heats through and coats the pasta. We’ve undercooked it because it will continue to cook during this process and soak up the water we add. We don’t want gooey pasta!