Lemony Spinach Pepita Pesto

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 It has occurred to me it has been way too long since I have shared a recipe with you.  And seeing as two of my favorite blogs, Affairs of Living and Diets, Desserts and Dogs, have picked spinach as the key ingredient for their S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge this month, and I so happen to have a newly created spinach pesto, well, it was time to share.

 

Lemony Spinach Pepita Pesto (Vegan, Gluten-free, Nut-Free)
Makes about one cup
1/2 cup raw pumpkin seeds (aka pepitas, be sure to buy shelled ones, which are dark green)
3 cloves of garlic
2-3 tablespoons of lemon juice (I used the juice of one lemon)
3 cups of spinach
1 cup of sorrel (can substitute extra spinach)
1/2 to 1 tablespoon of red miso (I used this adzuki miso, but feel free to use any miso. If you use white miso, up the quantity to 1 tablespoon)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt (optional)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

In a food processor or blender, chop the pumpkin seeds and garlic until fine, add rest of ingredients other than extra-virgin olive oil.  Turn food processor back on and drizzle olive oil slowly into the chopped up ingredients. 

Use pesto to top pasta, grains, tofu or whatever else suits your fancy – in the picture above I had it with tofu and quinoa (yes, I know, I am obsessed with cold pesto over warm steamy quinoa), but I also had this pesto with some Alaskan salmon, which was delicious.  The S.O.S. Kitchen Challenge requests vegan recipes, so I was not going to put up a picture of the pesto on salmon, but really, whatever you use pesto on, use this pesto – it’s wonderful and complex.  Also, I know for a fact this pesto is vegan, gluten-free and nut-free, but it might be suitable for other restricted diets, so please feel free to email me or post in the comments if you think it would fit in other categories as well.