Archaeology + Homemade Pesto

Becca Wilson
Aug 21, 2017
2 min read

= 2 of my favourite things.

Afternoon!

I hope you had a splendid weekend. I experienced my first Orkney local pub on Saturday. I don't really know what I had expected but the drinks were a lot cheaper than Edinburgh woohoo (I may have made the most of that). The only thing that made me laugh was the classic 'who's that, she's not from here?! stare'.

I had a great night! Sunday's sore head was not so great though...

Despite my slower start to the day, I wanted to make the most of my day off. I have visited most of the archaeology in Orkney before, and wow it is definitely worth being a member of Historic Scotland if you come up, but since I've arrived, I've been intrigued to see the development of Ness of Brodgar (an archaeological excavation covering an area of 2.5 hectares). It is amazing to see such impressive stonework. It was also great to see so many people interested and keen to come along to the Open Day. I then walked along to the Ring of Brodgar (the third largest stone circle in the British Isles). It was busy today, there were 3 cruise liners in, but still as impressive as always. The Ring of Brodgar was part of a prehistoric ritual network - and it definitely feels magical when you visit.

After filling up with some history, it was time to fill up our food processor!

I have now decided that Sunday is officially Italian Night. As you may know, pesto, pasta and roast veg is one of my favourite meals. This time, I made homemade roasted red pepper and tomato pesto. I tweaked this recipe and it was gooood: http://www.greatitalianchefs.com/recipes/red-pesto-recipe

Here's what I used:

200g sun-dried tomatoes
200g roasted red peppers
200g of roasted tomatoes
30g of basil
2 garlic cloves
100g of pine nuts, toasted
50g of parmesan, grated
50ml of olive oil

I blended it all together and there you have it - easy, peasy, pesto! You'll never want to buy pesto again! Homemade pesto is just so easy, much tastier AND you know exactly what's in it.

I served it with the usuals - have a look: