Everyone’s favorite green sauce originates from Genoa, Italy, and is traditionally ground together with a mortar and pestle. In fact, ‘pestle’ and ‘pesto’ share the same Latin root.
These days a blender or a food processor will work just fine to combine the few fresh ingredients that a simple pesto requires. If you’ve got basil growing in the garden, this is the perfect way to use it. Pesto owes its exquisite flavor to those luscious green leaves. Keep reading below for our great pesto recipe…
Pesto Recipe
(makes 1 cup)
Ingredients
- 2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Put the pine nuts in a dry frying pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring frequently for about 3 minutes.
- Add basil and pine nuts in a food processor. Pulse a few times.
- Add the garlic and cheese, then pulse a few more times.
- Slowly add the olive oil while the food processor is on. Occasionally stop to scrape down the sides of the pan with a rubber spatula. Add salt and pepper to taste, then pulse a few more times to combine.
- Serve with pasta or use as a spread over toasted baguette.
- Enjoy!
Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes