I’ve never made pesto. In fact, I only began eating it a few years ago, but I love it and I’ve planted basil ever since and just never got around to actually making it.
So NOW I’m set…got a big bag of basil I trimmed from the garden yesterday, got some ridiculously expensive pine nuts (do I seriously need organic pine nuts? nope. but I couldn’t find cheap toxic ones), garlic, etc.
I’m excited! Any advice?
Use plenty of quality olive oil. There’s nothing worse than “dry” pesto.
I’ve been meaning to do this myself, and I have a big patch o’ basil growing in the garden. Does anyone have a pest recipe they can share?
When a recipe calls for “packed” basil leaves, how densely packed should they be? I don’t have a scale or I’d just weigh them. I have a plastic grocery bag full of stems/leaves.
I don’t have a recipe, but I’ll hang out and wait for one. 
Here’s the one I have:
1/2 c pine nuts (or combination of pine nuts & walnuts)
3 T garlic
5 cups packed basil
1 t salt
1 t pepper
1 1/2 c olive oil
1 c parmesan
I’m going to make it without the parmesan so I can freeze some of it, then add the parm as I use it.
A friend of mine once made pesto with kale and sunflower seeds in place of the basil and pine nuts…it was awesome but I don’t have any kale. Maybe next year.
Wow, that’s a big batch!
Packed just means pack them down in the measuring cup with your hand as much as is reasonable. You don’t need an industrial press or anything. Proportions are going to be a little approximate anyway.
The salt might be a little light for that quantity, depending on your taste. Personally I’d leave out the pepper, I don’t think pesto really needs it.
You’re quite correct to leave out the cheese until you’re ready to use it. Also try with pecorino romano in addition to parmigiano.
One technique note: This is a good place to use a garlic press. If you’re using a blender or food processor and you put the cloves in whole, you can end up with little polished nuggets of garlic in your pesto.
Good luck!
I made a smaller batch because I was nearly out of olive oil. How on earth did that happen?! So I went ahead and added the cheese and am cooking the pasta right now.
I still have to decide what I’m going to do with the rest of this basil now…I may have to abandon it on someone’s porch.
Ahhhh. Heaven. It’s been ages since I had pesto. Very good, and not difficult at all. I don’t know why I was so nervous about it.
Shove it all in a bottle and then fill the bottle with Basalmic Vinegar (the cheap stuff is fine). Maybe throw in some black pepper and garlic or other spices that suit your fancy. Let it sit at least a week or two. Makes a nice bread dipping sauce or salad dressing. Smells divine thats for sure.
Stick basil in fridge. Tomorrow, go buy more olive oil. Make bigger batch, correcting whatever’s needed based on the outcome of the first batch…
My favorite basil tip is to chop it a bit (or you can leave it whole), put it in zip lock baggies a bit at a time, pour some olive oil over and freeze. You can do the same thing in an ice cube tray. Instant basil any time!
(Well, I’m Italian, so most of my basil needs involve olive oil, so this set up works well for me).
That’s almost the exact recipe I used tonight for my batch of pesto…the original called for the nuts to be half pine, half walnuts but I used all pine. I didn’t have quite as much basil as planned…it was a loose five cups since I only have one plant…so I only used 1 cup of the oil. I have frozen it with the cheese in it with no issues in the past. And I discovered all my garlic had gone bad so I just gave it a tiny shake of garlic powder. It was the best pesto I’ve had. The pizza I made with it was great. I’ll freeze the leftovers tomorrow after I use some on pasta.
Word. Pesto is insanely easy and gloriously tasty. I usually start mine after I set the pot of water on the stove and have it finished long before the water’s boiling. My daughter is our designated pesto taster and comes at a run from wherever in the house she is to give her expert opinion while I make it. Mmmm, pesto.
I’m ashamed to admit I have never had pesto. How do I edumacate myself on it? Is store bought OK? What should I put it on to start with? Should I use it as a dip or a sandwich spread? I don’t know where to start, but I hear the masses rave about it and I want to know what all the noise is about. Basil is ridiculously easy to grow, so if I get hooked it’s an easy fix.
If you’re talking about it being dry when you put it on pasta, the remedy for that is to add a bit of the pasta cooking water to the cooked pasta & pesto. It’ll smooth the pesto out and make the resulting dish palatable. As far as I’m concerned, that’s a necessary step to pasta + pesto. Without it, the pesto clumps unless it’s practically all oil, which is gross.
::waves hands wildly:: Pick mine! Pick mine!
I wash, chop, and freeze basil in small bags also. It can be frozen alone, or with the oil.
try swapping out the pine nuts for walnuts, interesting variation…
Texafrance, out of Round Rock, makes some excellent pestos. Pesto makers, note the variations offered & steal the recipes; everybody, check out the serving ideas. But there are other brands, available almost everywhere. I’ve seen some in unrefrigerated glass jars, but I’d go with whatever your store has in the refrigerated section.
The traditional way to serve it: Boil pasta, drain, add pesto. (Additional cheese is optional at this point.) Eat.
It’s also good on potatoes; chill the leftovers & you’ve got potato salad. Flavors up simply cooked vegetables, meat, poultry or fish.
IMO, fresh basil is best, and walnuts trump pine nuts. Yum!!