Too much coriander

My garden is chockers with coriander right now… as it is every year at this time. Something I like to do with a glut of coriander is make pesto… and it freezes well, so I can enjoy it’s flavour months. Coriander pesto is delicious with barbequed chicken, rice noodles and all sorts of Asian and Middle Eastern dishes. It makes a sensational dip too. One of my favourite ways to enjoy it is simply on a cracker with a slice of tomato and a dollop of pesto on top. Pure coriander indulgence! To value add your pesto, mix 1 cup of natural yogurt to 1/3 cup of pesto, 1 tbsp fresh chopped oregano, 1 tsp cumin and 2 teaspoons of honey and you have a wicked dressing for chargrilled eggplant, zucchini and capsicum salad. Just dollop it on top of layers of the vegetables and sprinkle a good handfull of roasted organic macadamias or pistachios. Yum!

To make coriander pesto, all you need is:

A blender or food processor
1 large bunch of coriander
200 ml macadamia or other vegetable oil
100 g macadamia nuts
1 clove of crushed garlic
100 ml lemon juice
1 chilli …if you like a little heat (optional),
Salt and
freshly ground black pepper.

First up, it’s a good idea to brown the nuts in a dry frying pan over a high heat. That brings out their delicious nutty flavour. Then pop them into your blender along with your crushed garlic and chilli. Process them until they’re finely chopped. Put in your oil, lemon juice and coriander leaves, give it another wiz adding more leaves until you’ve got the consistency you like. Then season the mix with salt and pepper to taste and your done!