Making your own sauces and/or dressings can be a gamechanger in the kitchen. Fresh herbs can be extra effort to buy and store, but rest assured that it is worth it when whipping together a mean, clean dressing. It’s even more rewarding to grow your own herbs that you can follow along with through the Growing Food with the Kodiak Cave series. If you’re a mint enthusiast, you’re in for a treat with these ones!
Garden Green Dressing
Ingredients:
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup cilantro
- ½ cup scallions
- ¼ cup toasted pine nuts
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- ¼ cup olive oil
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Place the mint, cilantro, scallions, lemon juice and pine nuts into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times.
- While the food processor is running, slowly add the olive oil in a steady small stream.
- Stir in salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Toss with salad as dressing, pasta for a quick sauce, dollop over baked potatoes, or spread onto crackers or toasted slices of bread.
Kale Pesto
Ingredients:
- 1 clove garlic
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 oz roasted almonds
- 1 ½ oz curly kale, blanched
- ½ oz parsley leaves
- ¾ oz parmesan cheese, grated
- ¾ oz pecorino cheese, grated
- 2 ½ – 3 ½ oz extra virgin olive oil
Directions:
- Combine the garlic, salt, and almonds in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse the ingredients until they are of a sand-like consistency.
- Add the herbs, greens, and cheese to the food processor and process until the ingredients are combined.
- With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil down the feed spout. Continue processing until the sauce is thoroughly combined.
- Use immediately or store the pesto in an airtight container for up to 1 week in the fridge. Add a thin layer of olive oil on top of the pesto to prevent discoloring.
Dill Mint Pea Pesto
Ingredients:
- 4 cups blanched sugar snap peas or 2 cups frozen peas (thawed)
- 2 oz fresh dill
- 1 oz fresh mint
- 1 lemon juiced
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Prepare a large bowl with ice water.
- Bring a medium pot of water to a boil.
- Add rinsed sugar snap peas to boiling water and cook for approximately 90 seconds.
- Drain and immediately add peas to the bowl of ice water. Let sit for 3 minutes then drain.
- Place blanched peas and remaining ingredients in a blender. Process until smooth. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste.
- Use as dip for vegetables, dressing for salad, or sauce for pasta or pasta salad, the best of both worlds!
As you can see, these herbs and greens are versatile. Each of these recipes is slightly more elevated than the last. They each involve mint, an herb that may not suit everyone’s tastes, so feel free to substitute with any herb like basil, parsley, or tarragon and experiment with them to see what works best for you. Learning and experimenting is a great way to start cooking more!
Recipe #1 adapted from The Sustainable Nourishing Manual (36)
Recipe #2 adapted from https://basicswithbabish.co/basicsepisodes/pesto
Recipe #3 adapted from https://www.ultratruffle.com/dill-mint-pea-pesto/
Kodiak Cave 