Basil has pesto. Parsley has chimichurri. But poor dill has nothing, and it's a shame, because dill is imho one of the tastiest herbs on the spectrum. It makes chicken noodle soup out of this world. It transforms cheese to something even better -- and it's harder to make cheese better since it's already the best of all foods. But dill has that superpower.
In light of this, I thought it would be fun to try a dill sauce. And then, since dill is very commonly used in Scandinavian style cooking, I decided it would be the Scandi spin on Pesto.
Though pesto is made with parm, I thought I would lean into the Scandinavian theme and go with havarti, which did not disappoint. Similarly, though pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts, I find pistachios to be a nice wallet-friendly compromise.
The result was something absolutely wonderful and new, and I hope you enjoy it!
P.S. In the pictures, I used spaghetti, but I have actually switched to preferring a shape like cavatappi.
SCANDI STYLE PESTO:
Time: 20 minutes
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
8 oz pasta, such as cavatappi
1/4 cup roasted and salted pistachios
4 oz havarti cheese, cut into cubes
1 tbsp dried minced onion
2 cups loosely packed dill
5 tbsp melted butter
Salt, to taste
Directions:
1.) Bring a pot of salted water to boil.
2.) In the meantime, put the dill, pistachios, havarti cheese, and minced onion into a food processor (or blender). Pulse until the ingredients resemble a sand consistency, pushing down from the sides of the processor when necessary.
3.) Slowly add the butter in a steady stream while continuing to mix the ingredients in the processor.
4.) Cook the pasta according to directions.
5.) Add the pesto to the pasta, mix so that the Scandi pesto is well dispersed throughout the dish.
6.) Top with items like tomatoes or additional cheese.
7.) Enjoy!
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