Pesto with Almonds and Cuban Oregano

 My indoor plants with automatic watering system were growing so well that I needed to repot them. I switched to a larger pot and also split some plants up. The Cuban oregano was two feet tall and required a lot of extra support. Unfortunately, in the process of repotting it, some leaves and stems broke. So I needed to find a recipe that used a lot of Cuban oregano.

I was inspired by a recipe I found online for Cuban oregano pesto: https://csaproducerecipes.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/funky-cuban-oregano/

I didn't have any pine nuts, so I used almonds. I added boiling water to about 3/4 cup almonds and let them soak until the peels could be rubbed off. I used about 1 1/2 cups of Cuban oregano leaves. Then I toasted a couple of garlic cloves and added those. I started with 1/2 cup of olive oil. I added at least another cup of herbs from the garden, including rosemary, chives, green onions, and basil. I mixed everything together in our old Osterizer blender. 

The blender has several speeds, but it wasn't working well. A vortex couldn't form in the middle because air got sucked in and then trapped in the thick sauce. I kept having to stop and "burp" it. There wasn't enough liquid and probably too many almonds. I added more oil and some water so that it could puree everything. I did a taste test, and it wasn't garlicky enough, so I added a couple raw cloves of garlic. I decided later that it wasn't salty enough. I don't have the nutritional yeast that some recipes call for, and I'm not vegan, so added parmesan when serving to make it saltier.

I had this flavorful creamy green sauce with homemade meatballs and fresh (from the grocery store) noodles with red sauce. I had a lot of sauce left over, so I froze it in small cubes.