Basil and edamame pesto, a lighter recipe with more proteins
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Total: 5 min
As with many others, basil pesto is one of those sauces in which commercial versions cannot be compared with the one we can make at home. A pesto made by us with fresh basil is the base for a delicious pasta dish, for a distinguished touch on a tomato and cheese salad or on a carpaccio. Also, pesto in a hermetically sealed jar will last several days in the fridge, so it’s a great option for fresh basil that won’t spoil quickly.
The traditional pesto is made with pine nuts, but the high price of these and the fact that it is not a very common ingredient often makes us see recipes in which these seeds are replaced by nuts such as walnuts or cashews.
But in the basil pesto that we propose today we have changed the nuts for a food that is consumed as a snack, which has a third of fat and almost twice as much protein and is perfect to give that toasted and crunchy point that would bring the pine nuts. We are talking about edamame and toasted soybeans, a snack increasingly fashionable especially since a well-known supermarket chain markets it under its private label.
Nutritional properties of soybeans
According to the Spanish Nutrition Foundation, “soy is a very important source of vegetable protein. The fat content is high and most of it is polyunsaturated fatty acids. Compared to other legumes, it provides a greater amount of minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus and zinc.
For vitamins, soybeans are a source of thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, E and folates. One serving of soybeans covers 65% of the recommended folate intakes for the study population.
One characteristic of soybeans is their content of isoflavones with potent antioxidant properties. The dual activity of isoflavones (acting both as estrogenic and anti-estrogenic), give it a number of qualities that allow regulate hormonal balance in women.
How to make basil and edamame pesto
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Ingredients
. Basil, 1 bunch Garlic, 1 clove Freshly grated Parmesan cheese, 50 g (*) Extra virgin olive oil, 50 ml Toasted edamame and soybeans, 40 g Salt, to taste
(*) Traditional pesto is made with a mixture of Parmesan and pecorino cheese, but if we don’t have it we can use a Manchego cheese that is very aged.
Step 1
Although this step can be skipped, it helps to maintain the green color of the pesto. It consists of blanching the basil leaves, for this we put to boil water in a pot. When it starts to boil we throw the basil leaves, leave them in the boiling water for about 3 or 4 seconds and, immediately, we remove it to a bowl of cold water with ice to cut the cooking process.
Once cooled we dry it well with absorbent paper.
Step 2
In a mortar or pestle, or in the glass of the grinder, put the edamame and soybeans, basil, peeled garlic and without the germ, a pinch of salt – with caution, that later the cheese will bring more salt – and half of the oil. Grind or crush until you have a homogeneous texture more or less rough that is to our liking.
Step 3
Grate the cheese and add it to the mortar, mix very well, add the rest of the oil, continue mixing and rectify salt if necessary. If the first part we have done with a grinder, we will do the final step in a bowl and mix with the help of a spoon.
Step 4
You can now use our basil and edamame pesto, we can also store it in the fridge in an airtight jar or even freeze it.