My Food Life

PESTO. Pesto, pesto, pesto. I could put you on anything.

This summer I was able to grow about 6 healthy basil plants, and with them I've been able to do two rounds of pesto and still have leftovers.

I'm still using the recipe from this link, but I will type it out here for convenient future reference.

Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe
(posted by Elise on Simply Recipes)
Makes 1 cup.

Ingredients
• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• Special equipment needed: A food processor

Method
1. Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2. Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

I do, however, have a couple notes to make to this recipe:

- If you're going to make pesto from fresh basil, I have learned to both thoroughly check the leaves for bugs and spiders. As a safety precaution (because I would prefer to be as vegetarian as possible—or else just not ingest spiders) I also rinse the leaves. Do try to dry them off a bit if you rinse so as not to add excess liquid to your pesto.

- I have yet to figure out how the devil to "pack" basil when measuring, since it seems to be a thing that completely physically revolts against the method of packing. I used 3 cups loosely pressed down and the results seemed fine.

- The recipe does seem to require a bit of salt if you add to pasta. Eating it fresh on bread or toast, it doesn't seem to need the extra salt, so I suggest adding a little in the blending process and adding it as needed depending on how you use it in meals.

- For frugal shoppers: one thing to know is that pine nuts are tremendously more expensive than walnuts, and while they may add an element of being fancy to your pesto, they aren't necessarily "better" than walnuts. Needless to say, I used walnuts.

So that's what I've learned so far in my pesto-making adventures. I do plan to try other recipes either later this summer or next, so hopefully I'll had even more to add on future rounds. But, all in all, the main lesson is: Pesto is great. Freshly made pesto is greater. Make it, put it on (almost) everything.