Monday, May 4, 2009

Pesto, Homemade Style

So if you're reading this blog, you know that I bought some herb plants the other week. The whole point was to start using fresh herbs in my cooking instead of relying on the dried stuff. Not only is it Greener, but fresh tastes pretty fabulous.

Tonight I decided to make my own pesto, using the basil from my plant.The plan was to toss it with linguine, and I had some fresh bread and a nice bottle of Rioja to round out the meal. I figured with only five ingredients (basil, olive oil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan cheese), I had a fairly good shot of my pesto turning out okay. The recipe for homemade pesto is super simple. Here's how....

1 1/2 cups packed basil leaves
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp pine nuts
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

Pulse basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan in food processor until finely chopped. Drizzle in olive oil in a steady stream until mixture is well combined. Makes 1 cup.

That's it. Pretty easy, huh?

2 comments:

  1. how'd it come out? what is rioja?

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  2. Rioja is a Spanish red wine, and it's my new favorite thing to drink. And truthfully, the pesto wasn't that great so washing it down with lots of wine definitely helped :) I just think the recipe needs to be tweaked a little... less garlic, more olive oil.

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