Fresh: Rustic Roasted Tomato, Red Pepper & Cashew Pesto

Nuts. Yum. Nuts are great right? I mean, they are portable, protein packed AND they are all kinds of crunchy goodness.  Sometimes I buy that tomato and cashew dip at the supermarket, just for that nutty radness. I like to have it spread on toast with lots of black pepper and sea salt. Yum.  Yesterday,  it occurred to me that we could MAKE the very same kind of pesto at home, and it would probably be much nicer. So that, my friends, is what I did.

You can use fresh tomatoes for this recipe, or you can drain tinned tomatoes and use those instead.  That’s a total win, because it means you can make this season in and out. Yay.  Would you like to make pesto with me? Let’s go!

Rustic Roasted Tomato, Red Pepper & Cashew Pesto
Makes about 2 cups full

1kg of ripe tomatoes (or you can use drained, tinned tomatoes)
3/4 cup of cashews
50 g parmesan cheese (I actually used pecorino!)
1 red pepper, deseeded and cut into rustic chunks
1 head of garlic
1/2 cup of olive oil + an extra drizzle
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 400F/200C.
Pour a little oil on a large oven tray (or you can use two oven trays!) and spread it about.  Now tumble on the tomatoes, pepper and the whole head of garlic.
Roast in the oven for 30 minutes or until starting to caramelise.
Allow to cool.
In a food processor, blitz the cashews, parmesan and an extra drizzle of olive oil until processed, but still quite lumpy.
Squeeze the garlic from the roasted head and add that to the food processor.
Also add the tomatoes and pepper, a pinch of sea salt and some ground black pepper.
Process until combined and pesto-ey.

Eat on toast, sandwiches, spooned onto cold roast meats, under cheese on toast, over pasta and in soup! YUM!

Would you like to make this? Do you like pesto on toast? Do you like nuts?!

xx Pip

This post is part of the Coles Fresh and Real story. Fresh food to inspire.