Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto
Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto.
So, incase you missed it…. I managed to find gold. Well not gold exactly, it’s definitely more green than gold. Gold in the eyes of a CF Mumma anyway. More than 60 avocados for less than $60! That’s right, less than $1 an avocado!! As amazing at that is, I now have A LOT of avocados, sitting in bowls on the dining table, all getting ripe at the same time. Prepare yourself for many avocado recipes. Starting today with; Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto.
Roasted Cashews.
I’ve made pesto many times, but I have always used raw pine nuts. For a few reasons I guess. Mostly because whenever I’ve read a recipe for pesto, it uses pine nuts. But we already had a heap of cashews in the cupboard, because I have been making lots of things like the twins’ favourite; Cashew, Coconut and Chocolate Bliss Balls so I thought I would give this a go instead of buying more nuts.
Avocado Oil.
I used avocado is this Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto. Not because I thought I would reinforce the avocado flavour, but simply because we had run out of Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Not really sure how that could happen…. I mean it’s not like I put it in EVERYTHING! I think that was the unorganised twin Mummy that let it run out, not the CF Mummy haha!
To be honest I wasn’t entirely sure of the flavour when I first tasted it, but once I added a bit more salt I really like it. That doesn’t mean that when I make it again I won’t try it with my normal oil and see which way I prefer it.
Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto with Eggs!
I didn’t freeze any of this pesto. It’s been sitting in my fridge for nearly 3 days and only slightly turning brown now. I have been using it on everything though, because it really does taste good. Instead of butter on my toast in the morning, I’ve use this Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto and topped it with runny fried eggs. Yum!
Cole loves eggs, so he’s quick to come over with his mouth open when he sees anyone eating them. I’m a little weary about giving them runny yolk though. I’ve read a few different articles that say to keep it away from the younger children because it’s not cooked through. I was still undecided about it, until I saw it in a CF guide/cook book and it said the same thing. Now I’ll wait another year or so before I offer them dippy eggs (funny because it’s aways on the kids’ menu in cafes). Where am I going with this? Oh yeah; I had runny eggs and Cole wanted to share my breakfast. He ended up with mostly just toast and pesto and he kept coming back for more. If the toddler (not toddlers yet) eats it, it must be good.
Chicken and Pesto Toasted Sandwich.
This was delicious! We often buy cooked chickens, because it’s easy to use in lunches. The twins love platter lunch plates and if I add a bit of chicken, it always gets eaten. I decided I’d use the pesto today to lift up my toasted sandwich. Instead of using mayo with the chicken, I used the pesto and then just layered the chicken and cheese on top. I added some butter to the outside of the bread and toasted in the toasted sandwich maker.
I can not wait until Norah will eat a toasted sandwich! Just think of all the extra calories you can get into a sandwich that can have butter on the inside and the outside of it. What if she would eat; cheese, mayo and pesto in her double buttered sandwich!? Oh my…..a Mum can dream.
Norah seems to try more things when she sees us eating them often. I guess its a step to becoming more familiar with something. She actually wanted to try my toasted Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto chicken sandwich. Silly me though, I let her have a bite when it was still a bit too warm for her, so she didn’t come back and try again.
Avocado and Roasted Cashew Pesto
Great for to add to sandwiches, used as a dip or stirred through your favourite pasta.
Total fat content: approximately 133.5g of fat
Ingredients
- 80 g raw cashews 39.4g of fat
- 220 g avocado 46.4g of fat
- 20 g Parmesan cheese 6.7g of fat
- 3 tbsp avocado oil 40.8g of fat
- 1 cup basil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 lemon
Instructions
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Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees.
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Line a baking tray with baking paper and spread the cashews over the paper.
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Roast the cashew for 2-5 minutes. Keep a close eye on them and give the tray a shake a couple of times to make sure they roast evenly.
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Cut the avocado in half and scoop out the flesh. Put the avocado into a food processor bowl
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Use a fine grater or micro plane to zest half the lemon straight into the bowl. Add the juice from the whole lemon.
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Place the rest of the ingredients into the bowl and process until smooth.
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Store in a mason jar and keep it in the fridge, or divide it into portions and freeze for later.
Recipe Notes
Total fat content: Approximately 133.5g
This made approximately 18 tablespoons of pesto at approximately 7.4g of fat per serve.
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