Lettuce and Cucumber Pesto with Poached Eggs

This unusual pesto took root in my mind when I had some lettuce and cucumber sitting in my fridge. I was bored with the usual recipes and I thought that I would try out this pesto. I wasn’t sure about how it was going to turn out. I’m really glad I stuck with my idea because the end result was delicious. Very fresh, light and perfect for a hot, summer day!

I used a few mint leaves and also added some cashew nuts and almonds. Almonds are very good for heart health. I guess you could experiment with other nuts too. As both lettuce and cucumber don’t have a very strong flavour, they bring out the flavour of the ingredients that you use.

I did not use cheese for the pesto but I’m sure it would be lovely. Other herbs like fresh coriander or parsley would go well with it too.

I had made some bread the previous day. I topped it with the pesto and finished it off with a poached egg. Very healthy and tasty.

PREP: 10 minutes COOK TIME: 10 minutes

Ingredients

1 iceberg lettuce, washed and separated

2 cucumbers, peeled and chopped

A few mint leaves

¼ cup cashew nuts

¼ cup almonds

½ cup olive oil plus more for topping

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Cottage Bread

Poached eggs

Sea salt and Chilli flakes

Instructions

Place the lettuce, cucumber, mint leaves, cashew nuts and almonds in a food processor and process until they are finely chopped. With the machine running, pour in the oil slowly and process until smooth. Transfer the pesto to a bowl and swirl some oil on top.

To make the poached eggs, boil some lightly salted water in a large pan and break the eggs into it gently. Drain them with a slotted spoon when they are done.

Pile the pesto on toasted, crusty bread topped with a poached egg. Sprinkle some sea salt and chilli flakes on top of the egg. Enjoy.