I also find pesto to be amazing because it is so versatile. Delicious on sandwiches with fresh mozzarella, incredible in place of sauce on pizza or amazing on just simple pasta. Here is my recipe for basil pasta plain, simple, but fantastic. To be completely fair I adapted Ina Garten's which can also be found here. The only difference is that I prefer pine nuts so I used them in place of walnuts.
Basil Pesto
Prep Time: 10 minutes | Yields: 4 cups
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup Pine nuts
- 3 tablespoons Garlic, chopped (about 9 cloves)
- 5 cups Basil leaves, packed
- 1 teaspoon kosher Salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground black Pepper
- 1 1/2 cups Olive oil
- 1 cup Parmesan, grated
Directions:
- Place pine nuts and garlic in a food processor.
- Process for 30 seconds.
- Add basil, salt and black pepper.
- Slowly pour olive oil and processor is running.
- Continue processing until mixture is pureed.
- Add cheese and puree an additional minute
- Serve in any way listed above or anywhere else you think it would be good! Store in fridge or freeze.
Yum, I love pesto! I've never been able to make it because I refuse to buy a food processor until I stop country-hopping for a while, but I'm always on a quest to find restaurants that serve a perfect pesto.
ReplyDeleteI wish there was a good way to do without one. I actually had to borrow one for this. I think this COULD work in a blender, but you'd have to fairly gentle to make sure it doesn't get too pureed. You would also likely have to add olive oil at the start so it wouldn't emulsify at well.
ReplyDeleteI might try it sometime and report back.