It's time to harvest that big beautiful basil in your garden! I'm growing 5 big pots this year. It takes a lot of basil to make a small amount of pesto but it's well worth it.
This traditional pesto recipe uses fresh basil and pine nuts. You can switch out the basil for cilantro or spinach, and use walnuts instead of pine nuts. Walnuts typically cost less than pine nuts.
Pesto freezes well and can be mixed with pasta or vegetables, spread on toasted bread, or used as a pizza sauce.
Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, peeled (or as much as you want)
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 cups basil leaves, packed
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4-1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
Blend the garlic and salt in a food processor. Add the basil and pine nuts and blend well. Add the cheese and blend again. Remove lid, scrape inside of the bowl, cover, and add the olive oil through the top of the food processor lid. Blend until all
ingredients are thoroughly combined and the pesto
is smooth.
Store in the fridge in an airtight container or freeze.
