Pistachio Free Basil-Pesto Endive Salad
Bright, bitter endive leaves act as natural little scoops here, making this salad as fun to eat as it is beautiful to look at. The homemade pesto is the real star — built entirely from fresh basil, garlic, lemon juice, and good olive oil, it comes together in under a minute in a food processor and turns a vivid, almost electric green. Because the pesto is made from scratch with just a handful of clean ingredients, there are no nuts of any kind hiding in the sauce, which is a genuine relief when store-bought versions so often sneak them in. Each endive leaf gets a small spoonful of that herby, lemony pesto spread toward the tip, then the whole platter is finished with thin radish slices, flat-leaf parsley, lemon zest, and a pinch of flaky salt. The result is crisp, fresh, and just a little peppery from the radishes — elegant enough for a dinner party but easy enough to throw together on a weeknight. It's the kind of dish that looks like you put in way more effort than you actually did.
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Learn more →Ingredients
4 servings
For the pesto
- 2 oz fresh basil leaves (about 2 packed cups)
- ⅓ cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 clove garlic, peeled
- 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
For the salad
- 3 medium heads belgian endive (about 12 oz total)
- 4 radishes, thinly sliced
- ¼ cup fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- flaky sea salt, to taste
Instructions
- 1
Combine the basil leaves, garlic, lemon juice, and fine sea salt in a food processor. Pulse 6–8 times until the basil is roughly chopped and the garlic is minced.
- 2
With the processor running, stream in the olive oil in a slow, steady pour until the pesto is smooth and bright green, about 20–30 seconds. Taste and adjust salt or lemon juice as needed.
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