Sundried Tomato Pesto and Savory Scones

Sundried tomato pesto is something I always have in my fridge. It’s so great to add savoury flavour to pizzas, pastas, bruschetta and more. Making it yourself is super easy and it tastes great. I add walnuts for a little bit of texture and this year I was given a big bag of walnuts from my in laws very productive tree, so it’s been lovely using them in the recipe. You can use different nuts though, like pine nuts, cashews or almonds. For a nut-free version, pumpkin seeds or sunflower seeds are great!

Sundried Tomato Pesto

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (65g) walnut halves, or other nuts

• 250g-290g (8-10oz) jar sun-dried tomatoes in oil

• 2 cloves fresh garlic, peeled

• 1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves

• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest

• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus more to taste

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more as needed

• 50g (½ cup) grated parmesan

• A pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

• Salt to taste

*The amount of oil will differ per jar, so the amount of extra olive oil needed will change too. If using sun-dried tomatoes that are not packed in oil, you can soften these in boiling water first, then drain them well and squeeze out any excess moisture before blending with extra olive oil until you reach your desired consistency.

Method

In a dry frying pan on medium heat, stir and toast the walnuts for 3-5 minutes until toasted and slightly fragrant. Let them cool down to room temperature.

In a food processor combine the sun dried tomatoes and the oil they're in, the thyme, garlic, lemon zest and juice, parmesan and chilli flakes. Blend everything together until it everything is finely chopped. .

While the blender is running, add in any extra olive oil as needed until the pesto reaches your desired consistency. Taste and add any salt or lemon juice as needed.

Now it’s ready to eat! For a quick dinner idea, boil your favourite pasta, reserve a cup of the pasta water once it’s cooked. Drain, then add the pasta back to the pot along with 1/4-1/2 cup of the pesto and enough of the pasta water to make make a cohesive sauce. Top with shredded basil. Yum!

Leftover pesto can also be frozen for up to three months. To make things super easy, divide it into ice cube trays and freeze those. Once frozen, pop the cubes of pesto out and add them to a freezer-safe bag. This lets you grab and defrost the pesto as you need it.

An Extra Bite

If you’re a free subscriber to my Recipe Newsletter, you’ll continue to receive a free recipe emailed weekly. I also have an “Extra Bite" monthly subscription plan for those who crave a bit more! This gives you continuous access to all the recipes in my growing archives—ad-free, plus bonus recipes.

Thank you so so much to those who support this newsletter through a paid subscription. This week’s extra bite recipe is going to use this homemade pesto, in cheesy, flaky pesto scones!

These are NZ-style scones, more like an American biscuit. They’ve got cold butter cut into the dough, and then the dough is folded and rolled, to create layers.