Pesto
Now there’s making pesto by means of mortar and pestle…..I admit I have spent many a day making it this way, but there’s another way which I will show you here that saves you time and energy which we all seem to run low on by the end of the day. If it’s the weekend and you have some time on your hands then be my guest and knock yourself out with the mortar and pestle. It is truly is a lovely way to make this paste, and useful in so many other ways like grinding spices for instance not to mention being therapeutic. Back to reality, being able to use my food processor to make pesto really is a wonderful thing! The pesto tastes the same and you still put all the love into it using good ingredients. You can play with this recipe also when it comes to amounts like adding a little more Parmesan if it’s too thin or drizzling in a tad more olive oil if it’s too thick. Making pesto is a very forgiving process…. just trust yourself and be sure to taste as you go along to see if you need to add a sprinkle more of salt and or pepper.
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. 3.0-3.5 ounces of fresh basil leaves
- 1/2-3/4 cup grated Reggiano Parmesan
- 1 lg. garlic clove put thru garlic press
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- salt & pepper
- dash of Tabasco
Directions:
- Remove basil leaves from stems and place them into the food processor with the grated garlic, s & p
- Begin to pulse while drizzling in all of the olive oil thru the top opening of the food processor
- Once you finish adding the oil you may need to stop and scrape the sides with a spatula
- Add in the parmesan and pulse once more (this is where you can add a little siracha)
- The pesto is ready to use
- If you want to save the pesto put it into a plastic container, drizzle about 1 tbsp. of olive oil right on top. Then lay a piece of Saran wrap right on top of the new layer of olive oil so there isn’t any air touching (This will keep the basil from oxidizing and turning brown)
- At this point you can either keep in the refrigerator for up to 2 days or put it into the freezer
- When you are ready to use the frozen pesto take it out the night before and let it thaw in the refrigerator
- Now that you have this delicous pesto you can easily make the Crostinis with Fresh Mozzarella, Pesto and Roasted Tomato appetizer.
