I love making pesto (basil pesto) for my 'ohana and I am thankful they love to eat it. So much so that they turn their noses to store bought pesto (learned that the hard way when I bought the Costco size, thinking it would be the same and it sat. Forever. In my fridge). We put it on pasta, on bread, in a great tasting tomato mixture for bruschetta, and in eggs. Once in a while I give a bowl to a friend or I make pasta for potlucks and someone always ends up asking me for the recipe. I HAVE NONE! I just kind of throw all the ingredients together in my food processor, have my official pesto taster (a.k.a. Kaipo) try it out, and add a little bit more of whatever as it needs it.
This morning I decided to measure my ingredients. First time ever! My OPT (official pesto taster) said to throw in more garlic, but seriously, she is a garlic fiend so I opted not to. You might think differently.
- 4 cups basil leaves (packed)
- 5 cloves of garlic, peeled (why is it necessary to put peeled? Would anyone seriously put in garlic that is unpeeled?)
- 1/2 cup pine nuts (or any kind of nut you may have such as pecans, walnuts or mac nuts)
- 1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (I use the Costco one that comes in the big jar but in a pinch I have been known to use the green tall can one and it was not a bad result!)
- 1/2-1 tsp. Hawaiian salt (I always use my favorite Kaua'i Hanapēpē salt...I swear it makes a difference)
- 1 1/4 cup EVOO
Some cookbooks or blogs get a bit fancy and say to first grind up this, then that, use this oil, then that, but for me, I just throw the first five ingredients into the food processor, turn it on and pour in the olive oil in a steady stream until it is all in there. Then I will stop it, take off the top, use a scraper and scrape down the sides (there are always a few "leaf chunks" that are clinging to the sides) and then mix again.
And that is about it! I divide it up into a couple of small containers, one to keep and one to give away. The giveaway one is for my BFF who gave me the basil!
I bought my food processor mainly so I could make pesto. A few other great ideas: pesto mayo, pesto mashed potatoes, pesto and marinara sauce, and my friend insists there's gotta be a way to make pesto ice cream, but I haven't been that daring yet.
ReplyDeleteMany people who are allergic to peanuts are also (or will eventually become) allergic to pinenuts, so a nice pistachio or macadamia pesto is a nice gift for those folks. Great recipe! Thanks!
Scrivener I am a LOVER of all things pesto and nuts. Pesto mashed potatoes sounds like a WINNER! But, uh, you can keep the pesto ice cream to yourself.
ReplyDeleteSo people with nut allergies are not allergic to pistachios or mac nuts? I love both and have used mac nuts in my pesto and was quite pleased.
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