Kale & Hazelnut Pesto with added love for my Mum.

I wasn’t the easiest daughter to raise, I’m certain that my parents often checked if they still had the receipt! I was stubborn (still am) I had a wicked temper (I still do) I was prone to moments of complete single-minded selfishness (I hope I’ve grown out of that!) but through all of that my Mum always loved me, respected me and supported me.

I hit the jackpot when it came to Mums (and Dads to be fair but today is about Mum) It’s a cliché but when I am ill the person I want most is she. Not that she’ll do anything different from Bernie (P.S he is pretty awesome at looking after me – he makes a mean Salad Cream Sandwich) it’s just, you know – she’s my Mum. She looked after me in London when I had some wisdom teeth out, made me mashed potato and watched musicals with me. She’s the first one to compliment me when I have lost weight, even when I haven’t. She’s my biggest fan – always immensely proud of me, even when I’m not feeling particularly proud of myself but best of all she (and Dad) just let me be who I was and never judged me.

As far back as I can remember she has always been vegetarian, I had a brief affair with vegetarianism in my teens but there is only so long you can survive on pancakes & chocolate! She has the added pressure of also being allergic to pine nuts (and Christmas Trees, Fish Tanks, Plaster dust) If you are not allergic to pine nuts, you probably haven’t taken in how many vegetarian meals have added pine nuts – it’s a lot!

So this recipe was adapted from February’s BBC GoodFood with her in mind, it’s also Weight Watchers friendly, cheap and makes enough to be able to freeze lots of little portions. Oh and Kale is a superfood or something, so you can feel extra virtuous while eating it!

Kale & Hazelnut Pesto
makes 16 portions – 4pp each

85g hazelnuts
85g Parmesan (or vegetarian alternative)
3 cloves of garlic
150ml olive oil
85g kale
juice of 1 lemon
seasoning to taste

Roughly chop the hazelnuts and lightly toast them in a dry pan.

Very simply all the ingredients need to be mashed up together into a paste, you could use a food processor or a pestle and mortar. If you have a handheld mini chopper like me (or a pestle and mortar) you’ll need to gradually add the ingredients as more room becomes available in the bowl.

Season to taste.

Stir through hot pasta, or mix with some cream cheese and stuff a chicken breast or use it in a sandwich – the possibilities are endless really.

I froze mine in individual portions using what I thought was an ice-cube tray from Lakeland and turned out to be designed for baby food!