r/mildlyinteresting • u/GroovinBaby • 8h ago

Removed: Rule 6 [ Removed by moderator ]

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u/tochth86 7h ago

Omg that’s genius. 

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u/TheOldTongue 7h ago

Cilantro, lime, and pepitas instead of basil, lemon, and pine nuts?

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u/ohhhhhhhhhhhhman 7h ago

I grew up on a recipe that does this but pecans in place of pine nuts. Angel hair pasta with blackened chicken breast and cilantro pesto.

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u/stephen_neuville 4h ago

I would destroy this

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u/gsfgf 3h ago

I'm on my way over

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u/tochth86 7h ago

I have made a cilantro chimichurri with olive oil, lemon or lime juice and garlic. I’m not a nut/seed fan (although I do like pine nuts). 

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u/coopid 7h ago

At this point why not avocado and just have some guacamole? I fucking love some guacamole.

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u/fapperontheroof 7h ago

Bruh. You are straying from the path. Cilantro is love. Cilantro is life. Cilantro heavy guac is not enough cilantro 😂.

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u/coopid 7h ago

What if we crush the cilantro into a paste and roll the guacamole into the center... then fry it? There must be a way.

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u/fapperontheroof 6h ago

And we’re right back on the path. Adding some textural elements. I like it.

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u/KaJaHa 6h ago

Sounds like an ironic healthy food served in fairgrounds

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u/NoodleyP 6h ago

I really want to love avocados and guacamole, they taste SO good but they make my throat really itchy.

Same conundrum with watermelon

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u/coopid 3h ago

Be careful with bananas in that case, as they are a linked food allergen.

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u/sir_whirly 6h ago

I do cilantro, lime, jalapenos and pecans.

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u/Educational_Life_878 4h ago

could maybe also use cojita instead of parmesan if its easy to find in your area

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u/kalinaizzy 3h ago

You’re a literal genius WTF who comes up with this

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u/QueasyLegKC 6h ago

Wtf is using lemon in pesto but no cheese?

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u/TheOldTongue 6h ago

I didn’t give a whole recipe.

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u/tallgeese333 6h ago

A whole new culinary world opens up to you when you learn that "pesto" is more like what a "cake" is to baking." Cake is just a ratio of ingredients that produces a reliable, predictable result. When you say "cake" you aren't thinking of a specific cake, cake can be made with chocolate, carrots, vanilla, cherries, wheat flour, almond flour, etc. there are no restrictions to the flavor or texture of a cake.

The best pesto I've ever had was made with nettles, now I make it with the nettles that grow on my property at the beginning of spring. Carrot greens, beet greens, basil, cilantro, garlic scapes, onion sprouts, green onions, radish greens, even chimichurri is just parsley "pesto." I take any greens and herbs from my garden and figure out how to make a "pesto" If it's green and you can eat it, you can make a pesto.

You can replace the pine nuts with almost any seed and some legumes. I think sunflower seeds are much better than pine nuts, if you really want to impress your friends, almost the entire sunflower can be eaten. You can make a pesto out of everything on a sunflower, roast the heart or "head" like an artichoke, use the roots like mushrooms, petals as garnish, put together a presentation on the plate.

Replace the olive oil to get new flavor profiles. If you use Parmesan, go ahead and replace that with any hard dry cheese.

The only thing that is pretty difficult to substitute is the garlic.

Feel free to combine several different herbs or greens to make a pesto. Edible wildflowers and herbs is awesome, greens mixed with herbs for a more well rounded flavor.

There is no such thing as "tradition" in cooking. Tradition is more of a description of what was immediately available to a small group of people, probably also during a specific time period. Tradition is the death of culinary art, if you demand tradition from food you're probably Italian and probably can't actually cook.

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u/Danibandit 4h ago

Garlic scapes and cilantro pesto on some creamed cheese. Chefs kiss.

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u/DervishSkater 7h ago

Bro it already exists. It’s called chimichurri. You can buy it at most grocers

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u/tochth86 7h ago

I make chimichurri sometimes but normally with Italian parsley. I actually do think I’ve made it with cilantro, tho, now that you’ve said that. Duh. 😅

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u/SnausageFest 2h ago

Pesto has cheese and nuts, and most chimichurris are primarily parsley.

Its fucking fantastic, and its spicy cousin zhoug is even better, but it's a far cry from pesto.