Savory Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Sauce

Name: Savory Sun Dried Tomato Pesto Sauce
Prep time: 5 min
Total time: 5 min
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients: 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil; 1 teaspoon dried basil; 1 teaspoon dried parsley; 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme; 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary; 1 1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes; 1 large clove garlic, peeled; 2 tablespoons grated pecorino romano (or parmesan); 2 tablespoons pine nuts (or walnuts pieces); 1/2 teaspoon salt; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil; 1 tablespoon lemon juice

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This recipe is not dairy free. It was published before Simply Whisked went dairy free, but I have chosen not to remove it as a reference for incoming traffic. Feel free to swap dairy free substitutes for the ingredients to make it dairy free.

I guess I’ve been on a bit of a pesto kick lately, but I couldn’t wait to share this sun dried tomato pesto recipe with you. I made this for the first time last week as an experiment and I was amazed by it. The recipe was inspired by a pasta sauce over at Budget Bytes that used tomato paste and honey to mimic the flavors of sun dried tomatoes. The thing that stood out to me most about the recipe was the spices that were used – lots of savory ones. Spices that you might use to season a turkey or chicken or even stuffing.

Typically pesto sauce uses fresh basil which can get pretty expensive, but the best part of this recipe is that it uses dried spices – cheaper and more convenient. Since dried spices – especially the rosemary tends to be a bit hard – I soaked the spices some olive oil to soften them up and bring out their flavors. Then I combined them with sun dried tomatoes and other traditional pesto ingredients in a food processor.

The recipe makes enough pesto to toss 1 pound of cooked pasta and coat 4 chicken breasts – about 1 1/2 cups, but of course you can do whatever you want with it.