How to use up parmesan rind to make pesto – recipe | Waste not

Why waste the tastiest bit of the cheese?

Although parmesan rind is tough, it has just as much, if not more flavour than the cheese from inside the wheel itself. It can be used just as it is to flavour stock or risi e bisi (Venetian pea risotto), but grating it opens up a whole range of other uses, such as in my mac and cheese “rinds” and today’s parmesan rind pesto. The flavour is very powerful, though, so add it to taste: you may find that you need a lot less than you think you do.

Parmesan rind pesto

Parmesan rind is a powerful ingredient that creates a more flavourful and robust sauce that holds up especially well against big flavours such as wholegrain pastas or barbecued meat and vegetables. Pesto is quick to make whether you do so in a blender or with a pestle and mortar, but I find that the latter produces a more interesting texture and, if anything, a more powerful flavour, because all that crushing and bruising releases more flavour compounds and volatile oils than the sharp blade of a blender. That said, to make it in a blender, simply pulse-blend all the ingredients bar half the pine nuts, until the pesto is smooth but textural.

4 tbsp pine nuts
1 small garlic clove, peeled
1 pinch coarse sea salt
75g bunch fresh basil, including the stalks
2 tbsp finely grated parmesan rind – I use a Microplane
100-150ml extra-virgin olive oil

Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden brown, then tip out and leave to cool. Put the garlic and salt in a mortar and grind to a smooth puree. Work in half the pine nuts, crushing them into small pieces (save the rest to add at the end, for extra texture).

Grind in the basil a handful at a time, working quickly to preserve its vivid green colour, then pound in the grated parmesan rind.

Slowly grind in the extra-virgin olive oil, until the pesto is of a consistency that’s to your liking, then finish by stirring in the remaining whole pine nuts and adding more salt to taste, if need be.

Serve fresh, or keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to two days.