Seeds Free Basil-Pesto Endive Salad
Bright, bitter endive leaves make the perfect edible scoop for a vivid, herb-forward pesto that comes together in minutes. The pesto here skips the traditional pine nuts entirely — built instead on fresh basil, garlic, lemon juice, and good olive oil — so every spoonful is completely free of seeds without sacrificing any of that bold, grassy flavor. Each endive leaf gets a light smear of that glossy green sauce, then a scatter of paper-thin radishes, fresh parsley, and a hit of lemon zest to wake everything up. The result is a salad that looks genuinely stunning on a platter and tastes even better than it looks. It's the kind of dish that disappears fast at a dinner party, and nobody will guess how quickly it came together. A final pinch of flaky sea salt over the top ties it all into something that feels a little fancy without any real effort.
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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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