Dill Pesto Fettuccine

Last year I had the most massive basil plant known to humanity. I was literally making pesto every week, furiously pulsing oil, garlic, & basil leaves & freezing them into little ice cube trays. All of my effort paid off though, since I had fresh pesto all winter long. That stuff is pricey & it always tastes better when you make your own, especially since you can adjust it to your liking (extra nuts! more cheese! double, no, triple the garlic!)

Me? I like a good garlicy herby oily spread whenever I can get away with it (I am so in love with pesto grilled cheese sandwiches, it's almost embarrassing). And I've also enjoyed dill in the past on other things, especially on salmon, but I wasn't too sure how this dill pesto was going to turn out. I figured it would either be really good or a terrible mistake (& waste of olive oil!)

One distinct memory between me+dill is sneaking dill chunks out of the pickle jar as a child & secretly eating them. Yes, mouthfuls of pickle juice-soaked dill. I was just drawn to the intense herbiness of it I guess or I was quite possibly severely lacking sodium in my diet & this was my childish way of getting it? I'm not so sure.

All that to say, I'm really thankful that I planted not one, but four dill plants in my garden this year because this pesto rocks my world. No, I guess I planted two more inside... I guess I was just worried that they wouldn't survive or that I would need bushels of dill come August. You need quite a bit of dill for this recipe, but I think I'll be covered this summer & it looks like I'll be scouring the depths of the internet for more dill recipes.

Although pesto is traditionally made with basil, this might be the new best thing. Make sure that you use fresh dill because the dried stuff loses its flavor very quickly.

Do you like using fresh herbs in your cooking? Have any amazing dill recipes to send my way?

Dill Pesto Fettuccine
Ingredients
2 cups chopped dill, tightly packed
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 tbsp pine nuts or chopped walnuts
2 large garlic cloves
3/4 cup freshly grated Romano
2 tbps unsalted butter, softened
8 ounces fettuccine noodles

Directions
Bring a pot of water to a bowl & cook the noodles according the the package. In a food processor, pulse the garlic cloves until minced. Add the dill, olive oil, & nuts & process until the mixture reaches a creamy texture. Add the cheese & butter & process for about 10 seconds more. Mix the pesto with the drained noodles & add additional cheese if desired.

Recipe taken from Vegetable Gardener