I’ve been so involved in Christmas activities that I almost forgot about the latest Hay Hay it’s Donna Day challenge. Multiple HHDD winner, Manila urbanite and envy of me, Joey from 80 Breakfasts, picked pesto as theme for the 24th challenge. Although I love pesto I don’t make it nearly enough, but when I do I try to use different ingredients and variations. So when I saw the theme was pesto I knew immediately what kind of pesto I was going to make.

Throughout the years I lived in Asia I fell in love with cilantro. At first I could not stand it, but now I am kind of hooked and my refrigerator just smells right when there is a big bunch of fresh cilantro inside. It’s popular in many Asian dishes and accompanies almost everything in Vietnam and apparently it’s also much used in Mexican dishes. Since we’re leaving for a quick break in Mexico on Wednesday a cilantro pesto with something Mexican seemed quite fitting.

I based my recipe on the original one by Donna Hay, posted on 80 Breakfasts, changing some of the ingredients to suite what I had in the kitchen and what I remembered to pick up!

To make cilantro pesto gather:

1 cup and then some chopped cilantro leaves and stems

2 tablespoons toasted and chopped sunflower seeds (pine nuts or cashews also work)

1 clove crushed garlic

3/4 cup olive oil

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Making it:

Place all the ingredients in a blender and process lightly. Adjust the salt and pepper to your liking and serve. Easy-easy!

Alexander’s dad made awesome fish tacos the previous night and there were some leftovers and fresh soft taco shells (I love New Mexico!), so we decided to try out the pesto with some fish tacos for lunch. Delicious!

Now I have to go pack. I’ve never been to Mexico so I am pretty excited and hopefully I’ll have a picture or two to share when we get back.

Thanks to Joey for hosting, Bron for managing and Barbara for creating Hay Hay it’s Donna Day.