Baba Ganoush Pesto 🍆🍆

I love pesto, but I’m trying to move away from buying pre-made versions where possible.

Many shop-bought pestos are ultra-processed and can contain added preservatives, emulsifiers, and high amounts of salt to improve texture, flavour, and shelf life.

We eat a lot of baba ganoush in our house, so I thought… why not make a baba pesto?! 😍

It has all the creamy, garlicky flavours we love, but with a smoky aubergine twist.

Ingredients

• 1 large aubergine, burnt completely on the hob.

• Remove all the skin and chop it.

• 1 garlic clove

• 1 handful of bitter greens (raw) e.g. chard

• 6 green pitted olives

• 3 sun dried tomatoes

• 2 tsps chopped nuts

• 25g grated Parmesan

• 1-2 tbsp olive oil

• Squeeze of lemon

Method

• Blitz everything.

• Add to a jar. Top with oil.

• Delicious with pasta and crumbled feta or on a base of a tart (recipe reel coming soon).

• Keeps in fridge for 5 days or so.

Eli really enjoyed this, despite the slight bitterness from the chard!

Did you know that babies are born with a natural sensitivity to bitter tastes? Many dark green vegetables contain important nutrients alongside bitter compounds, which can make them less appealing at first.

Introducing bitter foods early and offering them regularly may help children become more familiar with — and eventually accept — these flavours over time. For more info: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8485907/