Walnut Pesto Ground Pork Salad Recipe

1/21/2014 *Sara-Marie* 0 Comments

I love it when delicious recipes happen by accident. Today was a busy day. Between managing my work load and caring for the baby, it was close to 2pm before I had a chance to make something to eat. And I was hungry. 

I plopped my little angel in her swing and flew into the kitchen to see what I could quickly make. I didn't feel like having eggs (my usual quick meal), so I started looking around. I noticed that I had a bunch of fresh basil that I needed to use, so I immediately started getting the ingredients together for this walnut pesto sauce. It's my new fave and it takes a whopping 5 minutes to throw together. Now, what would I put this delicious sauce on?

Upon opening up the fridge, I noticed that I didn't have any "quick cooking chicken" as all of the items I had defrosted were bone-in. I needed something fast. I did have a pound of organic ground pork - would that taste good with the pesto sauce? We were about to find out!

Since I already knew that the pesto sauce had plenty of flavor, all I did was cook up the ground pork in a pan on medium heat with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper. I decided it needed some type of vegetable so I chopped up a red bell pepper and threw it in once the pork was no longer pink in the middle. Once it was all cooked, I took the pan off the heat and added about 3 tablespoons of the pesto. I did a little taste test and BOOM - I was in heaven. SO. GOOD.

I got myself a big bowl of spinach, spooned on some of the pesto ground pork and peppers, and topped it all with a handful of chopped walnuts. This is my new favorite meal. You must try it. 

Walnut Pesto Ground Pork Salad

Recipe Ingredients:

1 pound of organic ground pork

3 TBSP of walnut pesto sauce 

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1-2 handfuls of raw baby spinach, for salad base

olive oil, enough to coat pan

salt & pepper to taste

handful of chopped walnuts, as salad topping

Recipe Directions:

1.) Make walnut pesto sauce if you don't already have some on hand.

2.) Heat a saute pan over medium heat and coat with a bit of olive oil

3.) Crumble the ground pork into the pan and season with salt and pepper to taste, a little less than usual since the pesto has salt in it and plenty of flavor

4.) Once the ground pork is no longer pink in the middle, lower the heat, add your chopped pepper, and cover for 3-5 minutes, or until the pepper is cooked to your liking

5.) Remove from heat and add 3 TBSP of the walnut pesto sauce. Mix and do a final taste test. Add salt and/or pepper if needed, but I'm sure it will be just fine!

6.) Add pesto ground pork mixture over baby spinach and top with a handful of chopped walnuts.

7.) Dig in!