Cilantro Pesto!

It's so dang hot y'all.  My cilantro & oregano aren't fairing too well out there on the balcony in the heat...and I'm afraid it's not much cooler in here.  I snipped off the most descent looking strands of the oregano and hung them upside down to dry.  The living room smelled so nice for a little while.  I had much bigger plans for my cilantro, however.

Now for some reason, not everyone likes cilantro.  Some people think it tastes like soap.  I am not one of those people.  I think cilantro is Om Om flippin delicious.  This is the whole reason I decided to try my hand at herb gardening.  Unfortunately, my cilantro was a little patchy, a little yellow, a little sad.  I'm going to be honest with you, I only used a tad bit of my own cilantro in this recipe, as in like 3-5 leaves.  I found a lovely bunch of green organic cilantro at the store last week that I needed to hurry up and use (there's only so much you can garnish!).  This is what I did:

Cilantro Pesto!
If you are a cilantro hater, you can always go halv-zees with fresh baby spinach leaves.

2 cups pack cilatnro leaves
1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup shredded or shaved parmesan cheese
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp crushed yellow mustard seed
1 clove garlic
Zest of a small orange 
Dash of crushed red pepper
Salt & pepper to taste

1.  In the bowl of your food processor (a blender will work too), combine all ingredients except olive oil.  Pulse a few times.  Blend and slowly add the olive oil until you achieve desired texture (you can always add more or less oil, 1/3 cup is just a good start).

That's it!  It's so easy.  Spread it on a sandwich; put it on eggs; use it as pizza sauce!  I cooked whole wheat pasta and some frozen mixed veggies (zucchini, squash, carrots, broccoli, and cauliflower), mixed in some navy beans and stirred in a spoonful of pesto.  De-lish. 

What do you think about cilantro?  Are you a hater?  Let me know dear readers!