My kids – like nearly all children-  adore pasta en they dig a good pesto. The green colour makes it an ideal vehicle to smuggle some much-hated greenery in their diets…

As usual on any fine day, little Igor can be found in his garden. Here he knows peace and serenity, he grows the vegetables for his masters kitchen, tends to his fruits and, unbeknownst to his cruel master he hides a rabbit in one of the sheds. These simple tasks bring him joy and to him, a fine eggplant is worth more than all the gold in the world.

He only wished his master wouldn’t put his beloved creatures to such cruel use. True children need to eat vegetables but really, is there no other way…

He sighs unhappily; he has pondered this question so often, but alas never found a way out. The only thing he feels he can do is make sure the unhappy little creatures get the best and purest out of his garden. It is his simple way to atone for the deceptions of his master.

Today his master has requested that most hated of vegetables. A broccoli. With care Igor chooses a beautiful specimen from his collection. He checks for size and color, only the purest emerald green will do. When he has made his final choice he trots happily to the house.

As soon as he is indoors gloom falls over him. If these walls could but speak, what tales of unhappiness they would relate. For generations they have taken in the sighs of desperation and the screams of agony. Little Igor shudders and quickly makes his way to his master laboratory. The master is already at work.

‘Ah, Igor, there you finally are. What a time you took you useless lump of dough!’, grovels the professor in his usual bad mood.  ‘Now clean this blasted vegetable of yours and cut it into small chunks, got it? Then boil it in water, understood? Just until they are tender, not like the last time when your idiocy ruined my experiment and resulted in a green saggy heap you wouldn’t give to a dog’.

‘Yes, master, right away master.’ Igor chirps eagerly.  Carefully he boils the water and adds the cut broccoli rosettes.  When his master is not looking he quickly grabs one and tastes it, perfect! He drains the water and carries the broccoli to his masters work table, where the latter has assembled the rest of the ingredients.

‘Good, Igor, now put the broccoli there, like so…’ Now I will begin with the first step:

- put the one broccoli in a blender

- add 50gr of basil leaves for flavor

- add about 50gr off pine nuts

- add four to five tablespoons of parmesan cheese

- add one clove of garlic

- some salt and pepper

- add about 50gr of butter

- add 150 ml olive oil

Now, Igor put the lid on the blender and mix everything.’

For a few minutes the only sound in the basement is the soft whirl of the blender, which is occasionally overpowered by a hiss from one of the steaming colanders the professor uses for the preparation of his sinister brews.

‘Ah’, says the professor, stopping the blender: ‘very good, very nice’. Igor slinks into the shadows; he has no wish today to participate in this depravity. Quickly he says a silent prayer, pleading for his master to overlook him this time and spare him the humiliation of tasting the product of his masters evil genius.  Blessed be! His prayer is heard!

Gingerly the professor inserts a spoon into the mixture and tastes the green sauce himself. 

‘Ah, another success! Good good, we needed this success after that last blueberry debacle, mothers where starting to question my genius and that must never happen’, sighs the professor happily. ‘Igor! Come on you groveling dog! Get me some jars and lids, we must prepare the sale of this here pesto!’

‘Yes, master. Right away master’ Igor stumbles. He makes his way to the door, but halfway he turns, to see that his master is busily noting down the details of the experiment. He quickly snags some left over broccoli stalks and leaves and puts them in his pocket. His rabbit Georgie adores broccoli and the fact that he will make his little friend happy adds an extra spring to Igor’s step.