Lemon Balm Pesto

Name: Lemon Balm Pesto
Prep time: 20 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 10 about 350 g/ 12.2 oz
Ingredients: 120 g/ 4.2 oz lemon balm leaves; 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ½ cup Parmesan; 50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ⅓ cup raw; 2-3 tablespoons lemon juice; 120 ml/ 4 fl. oz/ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil; 5 garlic cloves; Fine sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

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4.6

81 reviews

Excellent

Prep Time
20 mins
Total Time
20 mins
Servings
10 about 350 g/ 12.2 oz
Calories
67 kcal
Course
Condiments
Cuisine
German, Italian

Lemon Balm Pesto

Freya Patterson

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Flavorful lemon balm pesto – the best thing you can do when you have a huge bush of lemon balm growing in your garden.

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Ingredients

Servings

120 g/ 4.2 oz lemon balm leaves Note 1
50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ½ cup Parmesan Note 2
50 g/ 1.7 oz/ ⅓ cup raw whole almonds (Note 3)
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice freshly squeezed, to taste
120 ml/ 4 fl. oz/ ½ cup extra virgin olive oil Note 4
5 garlic cloves
Fine sea salt and ground black pepper to taste

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Instructions

Prepare lemon balm: Wash and dry the herbs thoroughly. Remove the leaves from the stalks and weigh the needed amount, only the leaves.
Process herbs: Chop them roughly, place them in a food processor, and process to a rough paste. Scrape the walls of the machine.
Add cubed cheese, whole almonds, roughly chopped garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and oil. Process to obtain a smooth paste. Scrape the walls of the food processor a few times in between.
Transfer to small jars, pressing well with a teaspoon to avoid air holes. Place the lids on the jars, but don't screw them too tightly if you intend to freeze the pesto.

Notes

Weigh just the leaves, not the stalks.
Freshly grated cheese from a wedge. Pecorino Romano is great as well.
With their brown, soft peel still on, they don’t have to be blanched.
Use a mild olive oil, it should not be too bitter, you will taste it if it is. A fruity, mild sort would be great. As an alternative, use a milder oil, like avocado oil or a mix of olive oil and a neutral-tasting vegetable oil, like canola.
The recipe can be easily scaled. I always make the triple batch in the Thermomix, but that is a large food processor. If you scale the recipe, make sure that everything will fit in your food processor.
The lemon balm pesto keeps well in the fridge for at least two weeks. To keep it for longer, freeze it, it will keep for at least 1 year.
The nutrition was calculated considering that 350 g/ 12.2 oz pesto would be around 23 tablespoons of pesto and you would need 2 for one serving. That is, of course, not very accurate, but the best I can offer. The whole batch has 1507 kcal.

Nutrition Information

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Serving 2tablespoons Calories 67kcal (3%) Carbohydrates 2g (1%) Protein 1g (2%) Fat 7g (11%) Saturated Fat 1g (5%) Polyunsaturated Fat 5g Cholesterol 2mg (1%) Sodium 97mg (4%)