How To Make Red Pepper And Onion Pesto

As long as you’ve got a food processor, making your own pesto is a doddle; the quantities for each of those recipes will fill a jam jar and keep in the fridge for about a week. It’s hard to be more precise about the amount of oil you need to use; I’ve said ¼ pint (125ml) each time, so add the oil very slowly until you think the pesto has reached the right consistency. (Your probably won’t need this much.) Swap the ingredients around to suit yourself, try different flavoured oils and use whichever combination of nuts, seeds and herbs you like.

1. Step 1:

   Peel and chop the red onion; remove the stalk and seeds from the red pepper and cut into rough chunks.

2. Step 2:

   Rinse the fresh basil and put the herbs in the food processor with the pine nuts, red pepper, onion, grated Parmesan and tomator and garlic purées.

3. Step 3:

   Season with black pepper then whizz for a minute, stopping to scrape the food away from the sides every few seconds.

4. Step 4:

   Add the olive oil gradually through the funnel with the food processor on pulse or the slowest setting, until it looks right to you.

5. Step 5:

   Pack the pesto into a clean jam jar and pour another 2 tsp of olive oil on top.

6. Step 6:

   Store in the fridge for a week.