The basil has gone crazy in the garden but it seems to be a little on the woody side so I decided to make a batch of pesto this morning.
It’s very simple to make and if you cover it with a fine layer of olive oil, it keeps well in the fridge for a couple of weeks or so.
Alternatively you can put it in the freezer and bring it out when you need it.
To make one decent sized jar I used the following:
75 g of fresh basil leaves (weighed after picking from the stalks)
50g toasted pine nuts
50g finely grated fresh Parmesan
150ml of fruity olive oil
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 teaspoon of sea salt
I put the basil leaves into a liquidiser (you could use a food processor if the bowl isn’t too big or a hand held blender) and blitzed them until they were coarsely chopped.
As I was pulsing the leaves I added a little of the olive oil to loosen them.
In went the Parmesan – a couple of pulses to mix.
Then in went the garlic with a little more of the olive oil – a quick blitz (each time I get a spatula in and move it all around a bit)
Half the pine nuts and the rest of the olive oil – pulse, pulse.
When everything was fully integrated and I had a coarse but loose paste. I then added the rest of the pine nuts and the salt. I like to have teeny bits of pine nut that give texture but you can make it smoother or coarser if you like.
That’s it!
Transfer to a jar and use on pizzas, dilute with a couple of ladles of pasta cooking water to coat spaghetti, use as a base for a salad dressing adding lemon juice and more oil to loosen.
Drizzle the pesto dressing over fresh buffalo mozzarella, avocado and new season’s tomatoes.
Bon appetit!
