Pasta With Pumpkin Seed Pesto

I have been making pesto for a while now with pumpkin seeds since pine nuts are so expensive and I don’t care for almonds. I always toast the pumpkin seeds for a few minutes before I put them in the food processor with the other ingredients. No problem with grinding. And I think the flavor is wonderful!

For this recipe, fresh basil shouldn't be put in a blender or food processor. The steel blade's brutal chopping and tearing harms the herb's freshness and flavor. The final product tastes "grassy" and flat with some degree of bitter. Better practice: macerate the basil, with some coarse salt in a mortar and pestle or, better yet, in a suribachi. It's fine to grind the other ingredients (minus the cheese) in a processor. Then, simply add them to the hand-macerated basil. Worth the effort.

The flavor of this sauce is absolutely phenomenal. I had a difficult time getting the pumpkin seeds fully ground down. I’m wondering if it would be helpful to soak or roast the seeds before blending next time. For extra protein and flavor, olives make a great addition to this pasta.

I live in Italy. Here, if you rinsed your cooked pasta under cold water, nonna would slap you silly. You’ve just eliminated all the “tooth” that helps the sauce cling to the pasta.

I find pepitas to be an excellent substitution for pine nuts, w/ walnuts or a combination of being a close second. Pine nuts from China are a different species than their European counterparts. Besides being inferior in flavor, they are known to cause something called "Pine Mouth". I only found this out after consuming some and had a horrible metallic taste in my mouth for days after. The majority of pepitas also come from China. Seek out US grown seeds by farms in NY & OR.Worth the extra money.

Consider Austrian pumpkin seeds for this, named for country where pumpkin variety developed: "...rich, deep flavor... larger in size than typical pumpkin seeds...contain a ton of health-promoting nutrients. Austrian pumpkin seeds come from Styrian pumpkins and are unique because about 100 years ago, these seeds lost their wooden shell due to a mutation." Several US growers, many organic. Our go-to pepita. We like Bob's Red Mill brand. https://www.bobsredmill.com/pumpkin-seeds.html

I made this as written with one tweak—I toasted the pepitas in a pan on the stove for a few minutes—and the results were delicious. I love traditional pesto but the pepita flavor is so rich. This recipe is a keeper.

Olives sound like a great addition, but they would not add any protein :-)

This is one of my new favorite recipes. Ignoring the thoughtful suggestions the community comments, I pulverized the heck out of the basil and seeds in my Vitamix blender, gave the garlic some extra time in the hot water (thinking that would make the garlic even less pungent), used only three ounces of basil but an extra handful of tomatoes, and ate it warm for a weekday lunch. The flavors were heavenly. Don’t forget to top it with extra pumpkin seeds. Very little is leftover.

Pumpkin seeds (as well as my other pesto-replacement, pecans) 'toast' well in the microwave, including straight from the freezer, where I keep them to stay fresh. In a bowl, nuke for a minute if frozen, 30 seconds if not, stir, another 30 seconds, stir. If they smell toasty, stop. If not, give them another 30 secs. Then they taste better AND chop fine more easily.

Bob's Red Mill switched from domestically grown Austrian varietal seeds to ones imported from China a few years back. They attest to this fact in the Q & A of the link you provided. Here is one company that grows the the variety of seed you mention. It is notable for its dark color unlike the more common imported olive green seeds. https://store.wholeheartedfoods.com/product/raw-organic-pumpkin-seeds-1lb/

So for years I had always sucked it up and bought the pine nuts. Problem was when the Chinese nuts hit the market. They tasted different, and did not "bring me back" to the dishes we ate in Italy as students. So I continued to buy Italian nuts. Pumpkin seeds sound like a fine alternative, and I'll try this within the next few days! BTW...why are people tring to grind them? Just coarsely chop. Buon appetito!

Baked Chicken Breast

The white seeds with the shell still on, sold commonly as snack products (eg. David's and Bigs brands) are generally referred to as pumpkin seeds. The green seed is what is usually referred to as a pepita - a common ingredient in Mexican cooking. These can be harvested from Austrian varieties of pumpkins grown specifically for their hull-less seeds or as is most often the case, mechanically separated from the white outer shell from traditional squash.

How about roasted vegetables, especially eggplant. Yummmm.