Pesto, Pesto Man... I've Got To Be a Pesto Man!

Pesto is wonderful. Not much else to stay. You take herbs and you mix it with garlic, cheese, olive oil and nuts. You have a wee bit of texture from the nuts, a rich herb flavor and some cheese. Really what's not to like?

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:

1. Place pine nuts and garlic in a food processor.
2. Process for 30 seconds.
3. Add basil, salt and black pepper.
4. Slowly pour olive oil and processor is running.
5. Continue processing until mixture is pureed.
6. Add cheese and puree an additional minute
7. Serve in any way listed above or anywhere else you think it would be good! Store in fridge or freeze.