When I get my last veggie box, I was pretty surprised to find what is called Brussels sprout top, I didn’t know that such a thing could exist. As you might know, Brussels sprout is pretty new on my diet as I had bad memories from my childhood, but now I like to make them stir-fry, don’t hesitate to have a look at my recipe for making a wok with beansprout, kale, and mushrooms.

Back to Brussels sprout top, I had a look online and I was surprised to see that it was not unknown and that is really good for the health. As soon as I was more familiar with the Brussels sprout top, 3 ideas came to my mind: first was to use it in a stir-fry, second was to make a soup which is pretty classic when I don’t know a vegetable but the third option was a gambling choice: making a pesto with it.

Pesto is something that I like in theory but as I don’t really digest properly garlic, I tend to avoid it, so make my own was the perfect option. After investigating numerous recipe of pesto online, I decided to give a go with my own version made with Brussels sprout head… delicious and for sure pretty original.

• SERVE:  – around 260g of pesto
• PREPARATION: 15 minutes
• COOK: 2 minutes
• DIFFICULTY: 

What do you need?

• 100g of Brussels sprout top
• 40 g of grated parmesan
• ½ lemon for juice
• 80 ml of olive oil (in that case I used half olive oil made with green olive and the other half with olive oil made with black olives)
• Handful of both parsley and basil

How to make Brussels sprout top pesto?

• Prepare the Brussels sprout top by keeping massively the leaves and trying to avoid the stem. Put all the sleeves in pieces

The stem can be kept for making a soup later

• Wash it carefully
• Put some water to boil and as soon as the water is boiling, through away the Brussels sprout top pieces into it and leave it for 2 minutes

This step is used for making the leaves tender and easier to mix

• Remove the Brussels sprout top pieces from the boiling water and try to dry them with some kitchen towel for avoiding to keep too much humidity
• In a mixer, put all the Brussels sprout top pieces and mix them for having a kind of paste
• Then add the juice of ½ lemon, the parmesan, aromatic herbs and half of the olive oil and mix it
• Check the texture of the pesto and add bits by bits the leftover of olive oil

I didn’t add salt and pepper as I prefer to it when I use the pesto in a cooking recipe. On top of that, I usually find parmesan quite salty

More recipe to try and enjoy: