Smoked Walnut, Pine Nut and Garlic Winter Pesto

Smoked Walnut, Pine Nut and Garlic Winter Pesto

Greetings From Kyoto

Kyoto photographer Kosuke Okuda and I teamed up to do an article for the Russian travel magazine Afisha Mir (Афиша-Мир). I just got a PDF of the article — hot off the server!

In the article I introduced the long history of Aritsugu which was founded in 1560. Aritsugu is one of the most famous makers of traditional Japanese knives and they are found in good kitchens all over Japan. We focused on the special eel bone cutting ‘honegiri’ knife that is used for the traditional Kyoto summer delicacy of ‘hamo’ pike eel. The knife is over 40 cm long, weighs more that 500 gm and costs more than $1,000 USD!

I wrote it, but I can’t read it!!

Kyoto photographer Kosuke Okuda and I teamed up to do an article for the Russian travel magazine Afisha Mir (Афиша-Мир). I just got a PDF of the article — hot off the server!

In the article I introduced the long history of Aritsugu which was founded in 1560. Aritsugu is one of the most famous makers of traditional Japanese knives and they are found in good kitchens all over Japan. We focused on the special eel bone cutting ‘honegiri’ knife that is used for the traditional Kyoto summer delicacy of ‘hamo’ pike eel. The knife is over 40 cm long, weighs more that 500 gm and costs more than $1,000 USD!

I wrote it, but I can’t read it!!

Kyoto photographer Kosuke Okuda and I teamed up to do an article for the Russian travel magazine Afisha Mir (Афиша-Мир). I just got a PDF of the article — hot off the server!

In the article I introduced the long history of Aritsugu which was founded in 1560. Aritsugu is one of the most famous makers of traditional Japanese knives and they are found in good kitchens all over Japan. We focused on the special eel bone cutting ‘honegiri’ knife that is used for the traditional Kyoto summer delicacy of ‘hamo’ pike eel. The knife is over 40 cm long, weighs more that 500 gm and costs more than $1,000 USD!

I wrote it, but I can’t read it!!

Kyoto photographer Kosuke Okuda and I teamed up to do an article for the Russian travel magazine Afisha Mir (Афиша-Мир). I just got a PDF of the article — hot off the server!

In the article I introduced the long history of Aritsugu which was founded in 1560. Aritsugu is one of the most famous makers of traditional Japanese knives and they are found in good kitchens all over Japan. We focused on the special eel bone cutting ‘honegiri’ knife that is used for the traditional Kyoto summer delicacy of ‘hamo’ pike eel. The knife is over 40 cm long, weighs more that 500 gm and costs more than $1,000 USD!

I wrote it, but I can’t read it!!

I love pesto in the summer and used to make it back home in Minnesota. Pine nuts and good cheese are crazy expensive in Japan and I have never seen basil available here in the quantity that I would want to make a big batch of basil pesto. So, I have never made it here. Once, back home, I came across this recipe for winter pesto made with walnuts which I made just once and have recalled it many times over the year. This week I was smoking habanero peppers to make my chili oil with — which is completely awesome! As I had the ‘smoker’ all setup on my kitchen range, I got the idea to make winter pesto but to first smoke the main ingredients. So, once I was finished with the habaneros, I loaded my makeshift smoker with walnuts, pine nuts and garlic and gave them a good smoking with sakura cherry and ume plum wood.

The pesto came out really smokey, maybe a bit too smokey even. Nothing dainty about this one! But, never the less, it was doggone good. (My dogs even agreed, of course they got some leftovers). For the finishing touch, I zested and juiced a Meyer lemon on it. It seemed like my ideal winter soul food.

Smoked Walnut, Pine Nut and Garlic Winter Pesto
In the food processor.
Smoked Walnut, Pine Nut and Garlic Winter Pesto
My Yankee Ingenuity smoker made with an old pot. It doesn’t work real well, but it works.
Smoked Walnut, Pine Nut and Garlic Winter Pesto
The nuts and garlic well smoked.