Garden Pesto

Name: Garden Pesto
Prep time: 10 min
Total time: 10 min
Yield: about 1½ cups (360 ml)
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Ingredients: about 2 1/2 cups (150g) fennel fronds Fennel; 4 cloves, roughly chopped Garlic; 1/2 cup toasted (120 ml) Pumpkin Seeds; about 1 tsp sea salt (5 g) Salt; 1 cup (240 ml) extra-virgin Olive Oil; 1 3/4 oz (50g) hard cheese (cheddar, parmesan or pecorino) Parmesan

Independent adaptation of a publicly published Hetty Lui Mckinnon recipe. Not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Hetty Lui Mckinnon.

Pesto from a national-award-winning chef.

Ratio

Pumpkin Seeds 120 mlOlive Oil 240 ml

Ingredients

Fennel — about 2 1/2 cups (150g) fennel fronds
Garlic — 4 cloves, roughly chopped
Pumpkin Seeds — 1/2 cup toasted (120 ml)
Salt — about 1 tsp sea salt (5 g)
Olive Oil — 1 cup (240 ml) extra-virgin
Parmesan — 1 3/4 oz (50g) hard cheese (cheddar, parmesan or pecorino)

Method

This sauce needs a blender — the jar is for storing it, not making it.
Combine measured ingredients and blend until smooth.
Taste and adjust salt and acid.

Companion jar

Garden Pesto wants a blender — make it from this page.

The jar carries pour-and-shake sauces. These are its closest cousins from kitchens like this one:

3 kitchens · 3 stars · 3 national awards

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Build the companion jar

First run is small.

Leave an email and we’ll hold a jar with its companions on it.

Provenance

Hetty Lui McKinnon is a cookbook author working in Chinese-Australian / vegetarian; recognized with James Beard Book Award: Vegetable-Focused Cooking 2024 (Tenderheart).

Originally published as Fennel Frond Pesto.

Adapted from a recipe published by Hetty Lui McKinnon in Tenderheart (Knopf 2023) via To Vegetables With Love (author's Substack).

FAQ

Can this go in a shake jar?

No — this one needs a blender or stove, so make it from this page. Jars only carry pour-and-shake sauces — its companion jar is below.

What do the quantities mean?

Amounts follow the published recipe in household units (with metric in parentheses). On a jar, every sauce scales to the same fill height.

Where did this recipe come from?

Adapted from Tenderheart (Knopf 2023) via To Vegetables With Love (author's Substack) (published as “Fennel Frond Pesto”). Full citation lives in Provenance.

Companion jar