Basic Pesto Sauce
Most recipes today, generally requires that you make basic pesto sauce with your food processor to mix the ingredients. You get a smoother consistency when you do it this way.
This recipe uses the a traditional approach: chopping individual ingredients by hand. Sounds like fun, doesn’t it? The reason for hand chopping is because, if you’re anything like me, nothing you chop will be uniform and you’ll get a more distinct flavor.
Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil, packed loosely
¼ cup pine nuts, toasted
2 – 4 garlic cloves, peeled (feel free to use more or less garlic. It depends on your personal taste).
2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, optional
Directions
Remove stems from the basil leaves, wash, pat dry. Add pine nuts, basil, Parmesan cheese and garlic cloves to your favorite food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender.
Pulse quickly, barely mix. Add 1/3 olive oil, blend thoroughly.
Add the remaining Parmesan and olive oil and mix to your desired consistency. Add salt and pepper if you wish.
Serving Suggestion
Basic Pesto sauce is perfect with gnocchi, soup, pasta or spread on bread.
