Homemade basil pesto is made with fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, Romano or Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. It goes fabulous as a sandwich spread on a panini, with grilled chicken, even salmon.
To say I have an abundance of fresh basil in my garden would be an understatement, so I decided to do something with it before I lost it all to the frost coming soon and the first thing that comes to mind is pesto. I love putting pesto on a panini with some of our Grilled Chicken and a little Havarti cheese. OMG! Soooo good.
Making your own fresh basil pesto takes all of about 1 1/2 minutes.
Seriously, there is nothing quite like the freshness that comes from pesto that includes basil leaves that were picked 8 seconds before it was made. The recipe is made to taste, meaning you can adjust the ingredients to what you have on hand.
Some recipes call for Parmesan cheese or Romano. Some call for pine nuts, others walnuts.
Also, keep in mind that pesto turns green (and not a pretty pesto like green) when exposed to air. So you can either pour some olive oil over the top to create a type of ‘seal’ and put some plastic wrap over it or if you don’t want to use the EVOO, just place the plastic wrap over it making sure it touches the pesto to keep it fresh.
Easy Basil Pesto
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Homemade basil pesto is made with fresh basil leaves, pine nuts, garlic, Romano or Parmesan cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. It goes fabulous as a sandwich spread on a panini, with grilled chicken, even salmon
Ingredients
- 3 Cups Fresh Basil
- 1/3 Cup Pine Nuts
- 2 Cloves Garlic
- 1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese, freshly grated
- 1/3 Cup Olive oil
- Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients, minus the olive oil, into a food processor.
- Pulse a few times to combine.
- Drizzle the olive oil through the chute of the processor and continue pulsing until a nice creamy pesto forms, stopping to scrape the sides once or twice.
- Enjoy the basil for up to 5 days in the refrigerator covering with a layer of olive oil and plastic wrap.
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