I love pesto so much and have been wanting to make it for a while now. I finally decided to take the plunge and pretend I was making pesto for the army. I went to the Cash & Carry (restaurant supply) store and bought 2 pounds of basil, a gallon of EVOO, and a couple pounds of Parmesan Cheese! I now think I have enough pesto in the freezer for at least 10 dinner parties, how exciting is that? I was going to put spinach in the pesto to help it keep the green color, a great tip I got from Lydia, but completely spaced buying it at the grocery store, so I am keeping my fingers crossed for bright beautiful green pesto sauce anyways. I put a layer of EVOO over the top to help keep the color, so we will see how well that works.
The thing I love most about pesto is the versatility…You can toss is with a little pasta water and pasta to make a delicious dish, add a bit to salad dressing, put it on bruschetta, use it on grilled salmon, add to mac and cheese to spice it up a bit, and who doesn't love a pesto pizza?
Basil Pesto
1 Clove Garlic
¼ Cup Pine Nuts, roasted
½ Teaspoon Salt & Pepper
2 Cups Basil, tightly packed
¾ Cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
In the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment add the garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper and process until finely chopped. Next add the basil and pulse until basil is coarsely chopped. With machine running drizzle in the EVOO, and process until smooth. Now add the parmesan and process just until incorporated.
The thing I love most about pesto is the versatility…You can toss is with a little pasta water and pasta to make a delicious dish, add a bit to salad dressing, put it on bruschetta, use it on grilled salmon, add to mac and cheese to spice it up a bit, and who doesn't love a pesto pizza?
Basil Pesto
1 Clove Garlic
¼ Cup Pine Nuts, roasted
½ Teaspoon Salt & Pepper
2 Cups Basil, tightly packed
¾ Cups Extra Virgin Olive Oil
½ Cup Parmesan Cheese, finely grated
In the bowl of a food processor with the blade attachment add the garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper and process until finely chopped. Next add the basil and pulse until basil is coarsely chopped. With machine running drizzle in the EVOO, and process until smooth. Now add the parmesan and process just until incorporated.
Even without the spinach, your pesto is gorgeously green and looks so delicious. I've just been out in my herb garden, and there's almost -- but not quite -- enough basil to harvest for my first batch of pesto of the season.
ReplyDeleteI have been wanting to make my own pesto for a long time... thanks for the inspiration.
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