Pesto is an all-natural condiment you can use on just about anything. It's packed with nutrients and so simple to make — and you might be surprised to see your kids love it! It's a recipe worth knowing.
A simple homemade pesto is guaranteed to be made with fresh ingredients and good oil. On the labels of commercially made pesto sauce, you'll find potato starch, milk, mystery oils, and manufactured citric acid — made from a mutant strain of the black mold Aspergillus niger. Plus, what you make will taste so much better! Here's how I learned to make pesto without an exact recipe — and I'll show you how too.
In 1989 I met a French chef named Marie, and I invited (okay, begged) her to live with me for two months and teach me how to cook. We cooked almost nonstop, and she rarely gave me an exact recipe. This pesto is a perfect example of how she taught me to cook without relying on a recipe.
Marie, who was of Italian descent, made pesto like a true Italian — by feel. When Marie made pesto, she'd toss some pinenuts into a food processor, add some garlic cloves, and blend. Then she added two heaping handfuls of fresh basil leaves and blended again, poured in some olive oil, and blended again. She smiled, dipped a spoon into the pesto, tasted it, and said, Bon. Then she grated Parmesan cheese, scooped it up with her knife, added it to the mix, and blended again. Another taste test, another Bon from Marie, and we had pesto.
The pesto we made in just a few minutes was remarkable. I got my pen and paper and asked Marie for the recipe. Her reply was, “Weren’t you watching? I just made it.” This was when I realized that the key to great cooking is to learn a few basic techniques, connect with food, and feel your way through a recipe. Add, taste, and adjust.
I’ve been making pesto this way ever since, and I still don’t know how many pine nuts to add ... or how much mint, parsley, lemon juice, or lemon zest — I just blend different combinations, then taste and adjust. Pesto is simply a sauce of various herbs, garlic, nuts, cheese, and olive oil. You can make pesto sauce with just about anything, even tomatoes, lemons, and carrot leaves. You don’t need an exact recipe, just a guideline. Here’s a simple guideline to get you started — so you can have delicious fun making pesto and adding these beautiful nutrients to your family’s plate.
Print
Traditionally, pesto is made using a mortar and pestle, but I like to use a mini food processor. Often, the barrier to cooking is finding the time, and this handy kitchen tool makes cooking quicker and cleaning up easy.
The quantities in this recipe are perfect for a small food processor — you can even pack in a bit more basil if you like. To make a larger batch, use a full-sized food processor, or make two batches! Maybe the second one can have a different ingredient or two. You'll find some ideas after the recipe.
Basil leaves — about a cup, firmly packed
2 fresh garlic cloves
Pine nuts — about 1/4 cup
Freshly grated Parmesan cheese — about 1/4 cup
Olive oil — about 1/3 cup
Celtic salt or sea salt
Optional: A teaspoon or so of fresh lemon juice
Put the garlic and pine nuts in the food processor and pulse for a few seconds until finely chopped.
Use a spatula to scrape down the sides, then add the basil. Blend again for a few seconds until the basil is finely minced. Pulse a few times if the basil gets stuck.
Add the olive oil and salt, then blend again until smooth (using your spatula on sides when needed so everything blends evenly).
Add the cheese and blend (or pulse a few times) to combine.
Taste and adjust — now’s the time to add more garlic, nuts, cheese, or salt if needed.
Add the optional dash of fresh lemon juice or zest. It just adds a special layer of flavor that's fabulous.
That's it! It's done. Now the fun part — how to serve it.
Mini food processor and a Microplane for zesting
Serving Ideas:
Grilled cheese with basil pesto
Pork tenderloin, roasted with parsley pesto in the middle
Rack of lamb with basil and mint pesto — and fries!
Carrots with basil dill pesto to dip
Pasta and pesto packed for school lunch
Leftover pesto & cream with pasta
Leftover roast sirloin with pesto
Pesto on tartines
Simplicity is often the best — pesto on a fresh, ripe summer tomato
Peseto served as a veggie dip
Tartines with pesto and other tasty nibbles
Pesto on radishes for an easy first course
First course: roasted pepper, a piece of focaccia, one Greek olive, and a dollop of pesto — all leftovers
Pesto on carrot flan for a party
Dill pesto for leftover chicken
You can even make pea pesto!
All you need to make your pesto in a flash is a few ingredients and a mini food processor. When you have some pesto on hand, you'll find a way to use it — with leftover chicken, a dollop on ravioli or in soup, baked on whitefish, on pizza, in salads, and on sandwiches.
I served pesto and veggies for apéritif one Friendsgiving dinner. The kids devoured it — all but one tablespoon, which I saved. The next day my son's friend Quran asked, "Hey, do you have any more of that pesto left for my turkey sandwich?" Well, I never throw away even the smallest amount of leftovers. He spread the last bit of pesto on toasted bread and topped it with turkey and melted Havarti cheese. It was delicious!
Leftover turkey with pesto and melted havarti — thanks, Quran, for that delicious idea!
You can serve pesto in so many ways and make so many variations by modifying this basic recipe — use walnuts and almonds instead of (or with) pine nuts. Skip the cheese or use Romano or Comté. And of course, you can change herbs. Here are some more ideas. Please write to me and let me know what you do with your pesto.
Parsley and dill pesto
