Sundried Tomato Pesto (Vegan, Garlic and onion free)

Happy Monday to all of you! I hope you had a wonderful week-end, we sure did.

There is very little that beats a holiday week-end. Especially when daddy gets time off and little miss is home from preschool, making us a whole family for fun and play. But add in visit from far away, and you get one of the best week-ends ever.

One of my favorite things to do for my friends is cook. Luckily, I’m surrounded by people who, although they are not vegetarian (or vegan), are always up for whatever food I put in front of them. So I was given free range and the fun began.

Now, there was a restaurant that we used to frequent that had the best burgers in town! They had a whole section of the menu dedicated to veggie burgers, but they could also substitute the meat in any of their burgers with tofu which made our choices endless. Unfortunately, when we stopped eating everything out of the Allium family, our outings there became a thing of the past.

So, since we’ve been in a mood for veggie burgers lately, I decided to try my hand at recreating one of their signature burgers : The Mountaineer. The toppings are wild greens, rosemary mayonnaise, fresh organic soft goat cheese and sundried tomato pesto.

The pesto being traditionally made with garlic and even sometimes Parmesan cheese, I decided to try my hand at a vegan and Allium free one. (I do realize that the burger toppings themselves are not vegan, but I still love making as much vegan food as I can!)

The experiment turned out really good, so I thought I would share!

Sundried Tomato Pesto

• 1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes, soaked in warm water for about 2 hours, then drained. *
• Juice of 1 small lemon (about 1 to 1 1/2 TBSP)
• Half a cup of fresh basil leaves
• 1 TBSP of fresh parsley leaves
• 1/4 cup of olive oil (use more if too thick)
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

* I don’t use the tomatoes packed in oil because they contain seasonings that include garlic powder. Also, I find them too salty and fatty. I’d rather add my own organic oil.

Just put everything into a food processor or blender and pulse until you get a creamy but still chunky texture. You can double the recipe and freeze some as it freezes very well. I never keep mine in the fridge more than 1 week. But that is my rule of thumb for everything!

Bon appétit!