This is a classic pesto that's wonderful for so many recipes. At the end of the summer I make a big batch without pine nuts and freeze in ice cube trays. When frozen I pop the cubes out and store in freezer bags to add to soups, sauces, and pasta. JUST A SIDE NOTE OF INTEREST...YOU CAN TAKE CUTTINGS OFF YOUR BASIL PLANTS AND PUT IN A GLASS OF WATER. THEY ROOT VERY QUICKLY. Enjoy!!!
Yum! This was my first time making homemade pesto. I have basil growing like crazy right now. I did use walnuts (toasted) and more garlic. Fabulous flavor and easy, quick meal to put together over pasta.
Instead of Pine nuts (way expensive) I have used almonds, pecans,even pistachios. Put a bit more oil on top before freezing and yumm- o!
Excellent!!! Made the pesto exactly as suggested!! First time making pesto!! Will definitely make this again. I put it over pasta and whatever veggies I had on hand (grape tomatoes, yellow squash, mushrooms, red pepper), plus added leftover chicken I had from a meal the night before! Added a little white wine to the dish while it was all warming on the stove. Now I just need someone to clean up the mess I made in the kitchen preparing the dish.....
Extremely helpful basic recipe. I used 3 cloves of garlic instead of two and it was too much. I used fresh basil and parsley from my herb garden and fresh grated parm cheese. I didn't have pine nuts, so I used cocktail peanuts-- couldn't tell at all that I switched them. Thanks for the recipe. My husband loved it and even talked about it at work!
I had heard if you blanch the basil it will remain a bright green. I'd. And it did. Delicious.
This is lick off the spoon good. I used the measurements for 2 servings and am thrilled with the result. I omitted the parsley because I didn't have any and don't like it too much. I used three instead of 2 tbsps of olive oil to make it more spreadable onto the pasta. I used 1 small garlic clove and 1/8 tsp of salt and it was perfect over a bowl of penned with garden cherry tomatoes. Soooo good.
10 STARS! Superb! Best pesto I've ever had! Beats any store bought even in gourmet shops or restaurants. I used already toasted organic pine nuts and really packed the basil and parsley and followed the recipe as is. I made it twice within the last two weeks. I put it in three small containers and froze two of them. It froze and defrosted perfectly. Next year I will be planting triple the basil so that I can make and freeze much more.
Delicious! It IS very thick - it’s possibly because even after buying 2 regular sized herb containers at Trader Joe’s of basil it still wasn’t the full amount called for, but since others have said it was thick it may not make a difference adding more basil. You can thin it with water not just oil. Believe me - there’s so much fat in this, it’s not going to lose it’s richness by watering it down incrementally until you reach the desired effect. This was an expensive dish to make due to the cost of the pine nuts, cheese and the herbs - next time I’ll try with almonds. We left it fairly thick. We served it over pasta with sun dried tomatoes and chicken. The next day it was spread on sandwiches of sliced tomatoes and melted mozzarella - yum.
Followed the recipe exactly. Just didn't like it.
