Recently, I did my best Il Miglio impression and made pistachio pesto at home. While their version is extremely tasty and basically untouchable, I am proud to say I concocted a very respectable second-place offering and a decent stand-in for when you can't get your hands on the real thing.
One evening, struck with a craving for the aforementioned upscale pesto, I skimmed through this recipe from Food & Wine, then improvised. Here's how my pesto came to life:
1 cup shelled pistachios
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (to start)
3 fresh mint leaves
1/4 teaspoon (ish) granulated garlic
1/3 cup powdered parmesan (to start)
salt and pepper (to taste)
I blitzed everything in a food processor, one ingredient at a time, starting with the nuts. Once everything was combined, I added more olive oil and more parm, in dribs and drabs, until the texture was to my liking. (Smooth but not runny.)
That night, we had the pistachio pesto over fusilli. It tasted shockingly great! There was plenty of sauce leftover for another round of pasta the next day. It also felt FANCY AF to whip up! (Ten dollars-worth of pistachios! What am I, rich?) I had fun channeling my inner Nora Ephron, throwing a curve ball to our predictable pandemic meal rotation.
A small note: Don't be turned off by the mint! It isn't a critical ingredient (the pesto will turn out just fine if you insist on leaving it out) but definitely lends a interesting layer to the sauce.
Let me know if you give it a go :)
Image credit: Real Simple
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