So the other day I decided to harvest a bunch of basil from my basil patch. My homegrown, organic, basil has just grown insane the past few days so I decided to top them all off and make pesto out of it.

This is it, my basil harvest the other night. A couple big handfuls of my basil minus the thai basil, obviously.

This classic Italian sauce is so easy and versatile, you’ll want to keep some always on hand in the refrigerator. Pesto is traditionally made with pine nuts, garlic, olive oil, basil, and Parmesan cheese. It’s most popular use is tossed with pasta. Walnuts may be substituted for pine nuts in a pinch.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons coarse-chopped walnuts or pine nuts
  • 2 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 4 cups basil leaves (about 4 ounces)
  • 1/2 cup (2 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

You will need a food processor or strong blender. With the motor running, drop the pine nuts and garlic through the feed chute. Process until finely minced. Add the olive oil and pulse three times. Add basil, Parmesan cheese, and salt to the processor bowl. Process until finely minced, scraping down sides.

Refrigerate leftovers and use within 1 week.

Yield: 3/4 cup

Per 1 tablespoon serving: 58 calories, 82 percent calories from fat, 2 grams protein, 1 gram carbohydrate, .65 gram total fiber, 5 grams total fat, 3 milligrams cholesterol, 109 milligrams sodium

Sorry I kinda grabbed that recipe off of someone else’s site. It’s about the same way I would have made mine.

What I did, since I didn’t have walnuts or pine nuts, is I took some salted peanuts and used that. I left the brown seedcoat on since I like the toastiness. It gives the pesto a nice smokey flavor. If I didn’t have these, I’d have toasted the pine nuts or walnuts anyway to get the same effect. I also add half a squeeze of lemon to give it a bit of zing.

When I then use this pesto I add a few shakes of cayenne pepper to give it some spice. I love spicy food. =p

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