Basil Pesto

A pint of pesto!

This recipe can be made in a standard size food processor and makes about 2 cups. It is an adaption of Marcella Hazan’s from her cookbook, The Classical Italian Cookbook. The food/travel author, Fred Plotkin, also influenced my recipe.

Lightly wipe the basil leaves with a damp paper towel to clean. Basil does not like to be wet and will brown quickly. Then gently 1 inch pieces. Be careful not to crush the basil. The purpose is to make fairly even sized pieces for uniform measuring.

I prefer the traditional green leaf basil. It makes a nice bright green pesto. The purple basil produces a darker brown-green pesto.

You can also skip the cheese and pine nuts to make a BASIL SAUCE which is a delicious sauce to serve with vegetables, meats, eggs, cheese ….. Also you can add it to soups and tomato sauces for extra flavor.

Ingredients

4 cups packed basil leaves

1 cup olive oil

1-2 small cloves garlic, lightly crushed with a heavy knife handle and peeled. There should not be a strong garlic flavor in the pesto

1/2-1 teaspoons Kosher salt, the cheeses are salty. You may want to add no salt. Taste the basil and add it at the end to be sure and start with a small amount

4 tablespoons pine nuts, chopped as coarse or fine as you like; I prefer a coarse size

1 cup finely grated romano cheese

1/4 cup finely grated parmesan reggiano cheese (or any combination of the romano and parmesan reggiano cheese. Most traditional is 1 1/4 cups of the parmesan reggiano with possibly a tiny bit of Romano cheese

Directions

• In the bowl of a food processor with a knife blade place basil, garlic, and olive oil. Process till leaves are tiny and a blended sauce.
• Pour the sauce into a large bowl and stir in the cheeses and pine nuts. Taste and then add salt as you like. It should not be too salty.
• Freeze pesto in ice cube trays and when frozen, place in a freezer carton or bag for storage in the freezer. You can also store the pesto in a jar in the refrigerator by keeping a layer of olive oil on the surface and covering with a lid.
• Presto! Serve with pasta as the original recipe. Use as a spread on tomatoes and fresh mozzarella or sandwiches and bruschetta. Add as a flavoring to soups, sauces and stews. Use as a marinade for chicken.