This is a quick and easy sun-dried tomato pesto. It has a lot of flavor and can transform an ordinary ingredient into an extraordinary dish.

If you have been reading the blog for any length of time, you will have noticed Baby Lady & I love pesto. Pesto is so versatile. You can use it to dress pasta, as a sauce for fish, chicken or pork; as a topping for bruschetta; to mix with veggies; as a dip; as a sandwich spread; as a finishing ingredient in soups; with steamed mussels; in potato and pesto gratin, etc. The list of its uses can go on and on. It’s simple to make, lasts 1 – 2 weeks in the fridge and several months in the freezer. It’s also relatively inexpensive to make, a little goes a long way and is perfect for those on a budget, i.e. college students. On top of that, it’s gluten free and good for you. It can be made with any number of base ingredients inasmuch as the term “pesto” comes from the Genoese word pestâ, which means to pound, to crush, as this is the way it was originally prepared. Because it is a generic term for anything that is made by pounding, there is a great variety of pestos, some traditional, some modern. In fact, this is the 14th post on pesto we have published on the blog, 9 of which are different pestos. We have made traditional genovese pesto, pistachio pesto, citrus basil pesto, citrus pesto, lime-lemon citrus pesto, roasted poblano citrus pesto, poblano pesto, lime-basil pesto, cilantro citrus pesto, and arugula pesto. The base of these pestos have been basil, cilantro, arugula, roasted poblano, parsley-basil, and cilantro-basil. You can also use mint, radish greens, kale, ramps, swiss chard, lettuce, spinach and scallions, to name a few more.

Today, it’s a sun-dried tomato pesto. Sun-dried tomatoes really shine in simple applications that bring their warm, dense, earthy yet bright sunshiny flavor to the forefront. Pesto is the perfect vehicle to showcase their intense flavors and this is what we did.

Ingredients

• 1 jar sun-dried tomatoes packed in olive oil, 8.5 oz
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
• 3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Instruction

Pour the jar of sun-dried tomatoes AND accompanying oil into a food processor.

Add garlic

Now, the basil

pepper

and salt

process until the tomatoes are finely chopped

Add parmesan cheese

Pulse to incorporate the cheese into the pesto.

Viola!!! Sun-dried tomato pesto ready to use however you like.

This is what we did and it was fabulous!!!! Sautéed summer squash with sun-dried tomato pesto. Delicious!!!!