we love this pesto! the first time I made it I knew I was going to get the whines of dislike from at least zachary before even trying it – and he didn’t disappoint – but after convincing him to just try one bite he changed his tune and this has become a summer staple in our house. I do make this year round but in the summer if I only have one plant growing it is always basil. I’m not against buying basil from the store – I do that often – but when it’s warm enough to have a bunch on the back porch you better believe I’m doing whatever I can not to kill it!
anytime I make something that disappears it automatically goes on the obviously-making-that-again list. so far they haven’t gotten tired of it even though I’ve been making it at least once a week since we’ve had basil. classic pesto has pine nuts in it but I never have those on hand – what I do almost always have on hand are almonds. I also don’t usually toast the nuts because that’s just one more step that I don’t feel like doing, but I have a handful of times and if you have the patients it’s worth it!
I like to use my mini food chopper/processor that unexplainably ended up in my cart while shopping at target.. crazy how that happens. I don’t really have exact measurements on ingredients – other than the slivered almonds because I buy the 1/2 cup little bag – because I just go by taste. if you add a little salt/pepper to start you can always add as you go. if you’d like more exact measurements just email me or leave a comment and I’ll pay better attention next time I make it.
- salt + pepper to taste.
- olive oil. (about 2ish tbsp)
- heaping handful of roughly chopped basil leaves.
- 1-2 cloves of garlic.
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds.
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan.
- toss the almonds, garlic and some salt + pepper into the processor and pulse a few times. add in the parmesan and pulse a few more times – try not to over pulse to keep some texture (you don’t want baby food). add in the basil and pulse just to mix everything together. now slowly add in a little oil at a time pulsing in between adding. (if you’re using a processor with an opening at the top use that to stream the oil in a little at a time while you’re pulsing.) once it’s to the consistency you want - you’re done!
** I like to keep the pesto a little bit thicker when I know it’ll be going onto pasta and then I’ll use some reserved pasta water to thin it out while mixing.
what’s you’re favorite sauce to make?
No comments:
Post a Comment