Here’s a slide share series from SmokinLicious® that offers a tasty pesto sauce recipe highlighting smoked broccoli!

1. Broccoli has got to be one of my favorite vegetables to smoke. Likely one of the reasons is because broccoli is available
year round so I have many choices when it comes to cooking directly on my gas grill, on my charcoal grill, smoker, or even
stove top using a stove top smoker that I’ve purchased or made from my own pot. Today, I’m going to produce a smoked
broccoli pesto that is perfect for so many foods and purposes. This is super easy and doesn’t take a lot of time to make.
But to get to our pesto, we first have to smoke the broccoli so let’s get that step done next.
Broccoli Pesto

2. Smoking Broccoli
Up
I’m using my Nordic Ware Kettle Stove Top
Smoker which I love and use a lot. I’ve
placed the unit on my largest burner, add
about ¼ cup of Minuto Wood Chips #4 in
the base pan, topped with the drip pan,
and then added the food tray with the
broccoli florets. Total time to smoke and
tenderize the broccoli will be about 20
minutes. Usually a medium-high heat
setting generates about 275°F of heat for
the cooking process. With the broccoli
smoked, it’s time to make the pesto. In
addition to the smoked broccoli, there are
6 additional ingredients: salt, pepper, basil
leaves, olive oil, lemon juice and Parmesan.

3. Making Pesto
With our broccoli smoked, time to
make the pesto which is done in a
food processor. In first, the smoked
broccoli florets, followed by a ¼ cup
grated parmesan, ½ cup packed fresh
basil leaves, 3 tablespoons olive oil,
juice from ½ a lemon, ½ teaspoon
salt, and ½ teaspoon fresh ground
pepper. Process all the ingredients
until smooth. You may need to add a
bit more olive oil which I’ve done to
get just the right consistency for your
taste. Remember, this is going to
produce about 2 cups of pesto so
start with a lighter amount of oil as
this can be added later when you
decide what you’re using the pesto
for. For me, let’s get some egg
noodles boiling and make a pesto
noodle.

4. One Use
There are so many uses for our smoked broccoli pesto! I’ll be adding ¼
of my 2 cup pesto production to some hot egg noodles for a great side
dish or bed for a protein. Here are some other uses to consider: use in
rice, pastas that have ridges for the pesto to cling to, on a sandwich, or
use as a topping for chicken, fish, and pork. I’m sure you’ll come up
with other great uses as well. The batch you make from the single head
of broccoli will last for about 7-10 days if stored in the refrigerator. If
you can store in glass, it will likely last longer. With broccoli readily
available most of the year, this is a treat to be enjoyed anytime!