Red Pesto

I decided to try out a roasted pepper pesto recipe from The Perfect Pantry but I pretty much suck at sticking to recipes and came up with my own. The real reason for this was that the roasted peppers (capsicum) that I bought were soaked in brine and I thought brine was salty water but apparently their definition of brine is vinegar. So my pesto tasted a lot like vinegar. The recipe also called for more vinegar and I added this except I didn't really look at the bottle it was coming from and so it turned out I added sesame oil and not balsamic vinegar.

Yes, I suck at sticking to recipes.

I would not recommend adding the sesame oil.

Red Pesto

1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted in oil free pan for few minutes
12 oz/340 g roasted red peppers/capsicum (from jar, weight after drained)

1/2 cup firmly packed fresh parsley leaves

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 cup olives (pitted)

1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (leave this out if peppers are in brine)
1 pinch of mild red pepper flakes
2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Put ingredients in food processor and blend until smooth. If pesto is a little sticky or looks like dough add another tbsp of oil.

Makes enough pesto for 500 grams of dried pasta.