Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Pesto is the quiche of the '80s.
Nora Ephron

One of my favorite things to eat and make from scratch is basil pesto. I endulged throughout Italy and can still tell you the best I've ever had was in a sidewalk cafe near the Spanish Steps in Rome. If I ever go back I'm going to track that little place down.

I have a really easy, no fail Rachael Ray receipe for making pesto. I get raves about it even from foodie friends. It is great over a thick spaghetti or any random noodle you have in your pantry. Also delish to scoop from the bowl with breadsticks.

1 bunch of basil (about 40-50 leaves)
1/2 cup olive oil
2 whole cloves garlic
4 oz. parmesean cheese
1 handful pine nuts

1. Give the basil a good rinse, pull the leaves from the stems.
2. Pour olive oil in a microwave safe dish, add cloves are garlic and microwave for 20 seconds.
3. Place pine nuts in a small frying pan on medium heat and toast until light brown. Just enough heat to give them some color.

Put basil leaves, warmed olive oil with garlic, toasted pine nuts and cheese into a food processor. Pulse until well mixed. Done!

You may want to add a little more cheese or oil to get the pesto to a consistency you like.

Give it a try and I hope you'll love your own homemade pesto as much as I do..."Yum-o," as Rachael would say!

4 comments:

Insight, Insanity, Imagination said...

Oh yum! Sounds amazing! I love to make pizza with pesto in place of regular sauce.

Insight, Insanity, Imagination said...

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Anonymous said...

Oooo I love basil pesto and always wanted to make it from scratch. I often buy it from the store. I will have to give this recipe a try-thanks for sharing! I'm glad Nick's family is ok! :o)

-kbecky07

Kate said...

I must say...this new blog is alot harder to follow than xanga...i need to start getting used to it b/c i go on like 10 week hiatuses (hiati?) and then i gotta do alot of reading to catch up on your & nick's life!!! I'm glad Nick's family & home is as safe & sound as it could be in all that mid-west craziness. I can't even imagine how horrible that must be...the pictures look terrible but I really can't imagine what it would be like to witness that devastation in real life.

 
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