Basil Pesto Recipe

By toobze

Ingredients

• 4 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts (pignolias)
• 2 garlic cloves
• juice of 1/2 lemon, freshly squeezed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper to taste

Details

Servings 1
Adapted from ohnuts.com

Preparation

Step 1

Note: The first step is completely optional, and will entirely depend on your tolerance for garlic.

Place your garlic cloves, still in their papery skins, in a saucepan over medium heat for a few minutes, stirring them around occasionally so they don’t burn.

After 2-3 minutes, add the pine nuts to the skillet and continue toasting them. If you choose not to toast your garlic, you should still toast the pine nuts–it deepens their flavor and definitely improves the pesto in the end.

Start by adding your basil to the bowl of a food processor.
Add the toasted pine nuts.
Add the peeled garlic cloves, olive oil and lemon juice.

Start blending the pesto together, pulsing in 5- to 10-second bursts.

Continue to pulse and blend until desired texture is achieved.

Add the grated Parmesan cheese, and pulse the processor again until the cheese is entirely mixed in.

Salt and pepper, to taste.