Monday, August 8, 2011

Real Basil Pesto

Okay Kadie,...get ready because here is the real basil pesto recipe I promised.  There is nothing low-fat about this baby, but man oh man, it is delicious.

The recipe came from Simply Recipes. I followed it to the letter.  Well, okay, I added more garlic because I am a garlic nut, so almost to the letter.

2 cups basil leaves
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used Grana Padano because it was on hand)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts (I used pine nuts)
3 garlic cloves, minced (I used more like 5 or 6)
salt and pepper

Pine Nuts, Garlic, and lots of Black Pepper

Basil Leaves added

Cheese and Olive oil added (not that much of a difference in appearance)
Yeah, maybe a little too much cheese on top, lol.
I could have eaten three times what I did of this.  It was incredibly fresh and yummy.  I guess we all know what will be lunch tomorrow.  Good luck, Kadie.

6 comments:

Yvonne@StyleBurb said...

That looks like the perfect amount of cheese to me! Your recipe for fresh pesto puts to shame the bottle of store-made pesto I have in the fridge- I must try making my own. It looks like a pretty easy recipe and I love the pine nuts and extra garlic. I bet it smells wonderful in your kitchen!

Mindy said...

I love pesto with all my heart. Love, love, love. Pine nuts are SO dang expensive though, and for that reason I almost always sub another nut.

Also, my sister took a ravioli making class at a restaurant one year for her anniversary and they made pesto using mostly spinach and only a little bit of basil. She recreated it for me and you can't tell the difference. It's perfect for the winter when basil is $4 for two sprigs.

I'm gonna have to bust out the food processor and get on it! I freeze mine in ice cube trays, then pop them into freezer bags. Then when I get a hankerin' I can just pull out one or two cubes for dinner. Mmmmm.

Unknown said...

Thank you so much Terry!! I am so excited to try this. We are so having pesto for dinner tomorrow. You have got to be one of the sweetest people ever!! Thanks again.

Little City Farm said...

Good point, Mindy. I usually don't splurge either and use walnuts instead of pine nuts which also taste great and are much cheaper, lol.

Thanks for the cheese support, Yvonne. :)

I hope you enjoy it, Kadie!

Rivki Locker said...

There is nothing quite like th real deal. I have lots of variations on pesto but I find I like this classic version best.

Wendy said...

Beautiful photos Terry. My mouth was watering just looking at them. I make basil every year and freeze it. When you do that, you can top it up before freezing with a layer of olive oil and it retains it's colour, and also leave out the parmesan until thawed.
I just started a blog too! (Learning...) You might want to look since it's your old house!
I'll be following yours with yummy photos like this! :)

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