Pesto Pasta With Shrimp and Salmon Recipe (2024)

adding lemon juice to the basil before blending will keep the pesto green. No ice needed.

why canola oil? why not all olive oil?

I do not include the cheese in the pesto. It causes the pesto to clump as the cheese melts upon hitting the hot pasta. Add the pesto first and toss. Then adding the cheese after seems to avoid clumping.

I concur with the idea of subtracting ingredients. However, it’s the cheese I subtract, not the nuts. I find the combination of Parmesan and basil too intense. Like this I get the full taste of the basil with nuts for texture. Also, it’s vegan! For variety, I often sub other nuts for pine nuts and prefer it.

Little known trick: dash of rice vinegar into the finished pesto keeps it green for a long time (better than lemon, even)

Parsley is what keeps it green. Spinach and parsley are known agents of green in kitchens. Basil turns if you look at it wrong, high powered blender or not. Ice cubes just mitigate the heat from the blender's friction.

Another way to keep the basil bright green is to chill the food processor and blade (or blender) in fridge for about 15 minutes. Use basil that has been rinsed, patted dry, and chilled in fridge. All ingredients should be prepped and refrigerate to make them cold. Then quickly process in bursts, as little as possible, and you will have bright green pesto with diluting it with ice.

This is what I do as well. I also add arugula instead of parsley, which adds some spice. My partner doesn't care for pine nuts, so I use toasted pistachios - which also help enhance the green color.

Flat-leaf Italian parsley is awesome in pesto. Keeps it green and brightens up the flavor. It works with or without the nuts ( walnuts do make a more cost-effective sub for pine nuts) and also with or without the cheese.

Hi Jimmy, I had the same question when I first made Chef Meliano's recipe. In the case of this pesto, after testing multiple iterations including one with all olive oil, I found that the canola oil lent relief from the flavorful peppery olive oil (letting you taste the basil more fully). I also felt that each part of this particular recipe, a blender pesto, aimed to lessen the ill effects of the hot motor. Olive oil, when overheated, can turn acrid more quickly than canola.

Garlic, olive oil and salt are essential, and the more garlic the better. I have made pesto with basic, with green carrot tops, and with oregano. Mostly with parmesan cheese but not always, and usually with nuts. But my pesto always has a sharp bite of garlic, complemented by plenty of salt and olive oil. Made really thick (because pesto means "paste"), stored in the refrigerator and diluted with more olive oil as needed.

We have found that the juice of one lime (or half a lemon) enhances the taste of the basil beautifully — and we routinely limit the cheese and use roasted almonds instead. Delicious.

I add a pinch of ascorbic acid powder to the jar before blending. No need for ice.

I wish some people who had MADE the recipe would have left comments. The color was gorgeous, and I do think both the ice and the parsley made a difference.I didn’t have pecorino, so used 2x parm, and threw in some pine nuts because I had them.My big issue is that this tasted so bitterly of raw garlic it was not edible. 3 cloves was way too much (even though they were small).

I quickly blanching basil in simmering water and then ice it to retain color - and use lemon juice too. I find flat leaf parsley more flavorful - curly is used as a garnish.

This was absolutely delicious. Added lemon and 3 ice cubes, 3 small garlic cloves as well, but I agree that two would certainly be enough. Made this with some gluten free turmeric conchiglie and although the mix might be unorthodox, it tasted heavenly.

I'm surprised no one mentioned blanching the basil before pureeing. It won't water down the pesto like ice will, and then you can use the hot pot of water for boiling the pasta. The pesto stays bright green without adding lemon or other items to the recipe.

Made with 1/3c pecorino and 3 ice cubes, comes out bright green. Blend on chop then whip. Freeze in ziplock baggies. Defrost in cold water. Looks like it’s enough for 3 servings? Maybe 4?

This is truly fantastic. Only the ice cubes make it an avocado color. I tried the other suggestions because I wanted it to keep longer but there wasn’t enough to get the blender going without the ice cubes which increase the volume. I added a bit of nutmeg and left out the cheese to add later making it possible to use some of the pesto with yogurt instead for other things. I went with all olive oil. I’ll still try to freeze some of it for later.

Really good, very easy. Could use more garlic for my taste. I swapped out shrimps with scallops because of a guest's allergy, but they weren't flavourful enough to stand up to the pesto. Still, a keeper of a recipe.

I agree with another post that blanching the basil very briefly is the way to insure a bright green pesto.

Unusually. for me, I didn't change anything. I was using a Vitamix that I'd never used before and did everything as printed, except for salt, which my husband is supposed to eliminate. And with so much flavor from garlic and pesto, we didn't miss it at all. This is going into our regular rotation.

I followed all instructions and the product looked beautiful - soft, smooth, deep green. But as a previous person noted, the flavor was marred by an excessive sharpness which am assuming was the over abundance of garlic. Would be interested in others’ views of that component.

I had my doubts about making pesto this way; I usually use Florence Fabricant's recipe but this was really yummy. My ancient blender protested but it didn't die. Thank you Eric.

Made exactly as written. I enjoyed the shrimp and salmon with the pesto and will do that again in the future, but this pesto method didn't work for me. I normally blanch my basil for a few seconds, make the pesto in the food processor, and it stays green for days in the fridge. It was a pain trying jam all of this in my waring blender, the ice spent a lot of time on top before getting mixed in and by the time this dish was on the table the pesto was brown. I'll just use my own pesto next time.

The smoothest pesto is made with an immersion blender.

Our summer rental doesn’t have a blender or a food processor. Any suggestions for a good store-bought pesto?

I make pesto without garlic and it tastes great. You really don’t need it. And for a lighter version I sometimes add a few tablespoons of garbanzo beans and their liquid. It blends in beautifully and has a great texture and you then need much less oil.

My recipe, given to me by a native Neopolitana, eliminates all the issues with color. It's pretty much the same recipe, but an can of tomato paste and 1/4 C burgundy make it red rather than green.

Sadly, the tyranny of food allergies (and the ingredient adjustments chefs make) are involved here. What is pesto with pignoli nuts?