The best pesto recipe in the world ... ever

After all that painting, we needed something easy to eat last night. Luckily, the veggie box man had been, so we had Jerusalem artichoke soup with parsley and nut pesto. Now, the latter is probably my recipe of the year. Hugh Fearnley-Whatsisname published it in The Guardian about a month ago and I've made it several times. It's fabulous in pleasantly bland soups like the Jerusalem artichoke one; it's great on pasta; and you could use it in an omelette, as the basis for a flan, etc. I'm not saying the possibilities are endless, but it does keep well and tastes divine. And it's SO easy!

Simply put 100gm peeled/cooked chestnuts into a food processor with 75gm grated hard cheese (cheddar or hard goat cheese) with 1 clove of garlic and 1/2 tsp rock salt and some pepper. Blend until a grainy paste. Add 2 bunches of flat-leaf parsley and blend again. Add the juice of 1/2 lemon, and while blending, add about 200ml oil (a mix of olive and something bland, like sunflower or groundnut). You may not need all the oil; I like my pesto thicker rather than runny, so used less.

This makes a huge amount of pesto, so it's just as easy to make half the amount. In addition, I substituted some of my Trader Joe's pecans and toasted almonds for the chestnuts last night and used lime juice from a bottle (if it's good enough for Nigella ...) and it still tasted great. I think I actually prefer it to home-made basil pesto, and it certainly keeps better (in the fridge, covered, with a bit of oil on top). Try it; you won't regret it!