Pages

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Pesto

Would you believe that I have never made pesto before?  It always sounded so "foreign" to me...just the name sounded complicated.  Boy was I WRONG!

I had an abundance of basil this year (we love our basil!) and I wasn't sure what to do with it.  I do have plans to freeze some for winter use, but I wanted to use up some of the fresh basil too.  Enter the idea of pesto.  Pulled out some cookbooks just to read what goes into a basic pesto, and came up with my own variation.  Simple, basic.  Some of the recipes called for pine nuts, but with a nut allergy in the house and a baby who hasn't been exposed to many nuts, I opted to leave those out.  And especially since I fed my allergic husband alder smoked salmon and apparently he is allergic to alder...I'm on heightened awareness.  Yikes...bad wife.  Though in my defense, I didn't know about alder trees, I only knew about birch trees!

Onto the pesto...

2 cups basil
1/4 cup parsley
3 cloves garlic
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, fresh & grated
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/3 cup olive oil

In your handy-dandy food processor, throw in your basil and parsley.  Chop away!  Crush your garlic and add it to the processor.  Add in the cheese.  In a measuring cup, measure out your olive oil and lemon juice, stir to mix, and slowly add to the processing basil/parsley/garlic/parmesan, until a nice "paste" forms.

Just like that...easy.  it takes longer to wash the food processor than to actually make the pesto!

VERDICT:
Easy and tasty!  If I knew then what I know now...we would have been making pesto for ages!  So good!  And I'm already thinking about what kinds of variations I could try! And what a beautiful, fresh looking green!  Not bad for an unedited iPhone picture!

Did you know that you can also follow me on Facebook and Twitter?!

9 comments:

  1. You have no idea how much I love pesto.
    I can eat it with everything, and actually as is - with a teaspoon

    ReplyDelete
  2. Looks great! I have a lot of basil, too. My basil, rosemary, and jalapenos seem to be the only things that that thrived in the heat this summer. I only got about 10 tomatoes out of several bushes and 2 cucumbers. Thanks for sharing!

    Mel S
    www.twomomsalittletimeandakeyboard.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yummy! Love pesto....
    And you make it looks so easy....
    And delicious!
    Happy Eating!

    ReplyDelete
  4. That is a good picture! I know, pesto is so easy, isn't it? But I never seem to think about making it either. Thanks for sharing at Must Try Monday.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hilarious that it was so easy. I literary just posted about how terrible I was at making it recently. Maybe I'll try your recipe.

    http://idonthaveacluebutimfindingout.blogspot.com/2012/10/lesson-51-really-gross-lunch.html

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have a bunch of basil I need to use up. Thanks for the recipe!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Really I didn't realise it was that simple - nor that you put cheese in it!
    Shall pin this.
    Thanks for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I just love Pesto, we have lots of Basil in our Herb Garden. This sounds like a great recipe. Have a fabulous weekend and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
    Come Back Soon!
    Miz Helen

    ReplyDelete
  9. Oh my I love homemade pesto! This looks so beautifully green. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday. Can’t wait to see what you share this week! Have a wonderful week.
    Michelle

    ReplyDelete

Thank you so very much for visiting Addicted to Recipes! I love reading all your comments and will do my best to reply as quickly as I can. I sure hope you will come back and visit again soon!