On Monday night I went out in the evening and harvested a lot of our basil. After all my blogging, photo shooting/editing and time on the phone it was so lovely to stand in the warm grass without shoes on and methodically trim the fragrant basil. I washed it and set it aside to make pesto with Gigi. Pesto is a great, simple thing to make with kids! Gigi loves to make it, and eat it!
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BASIL PESTO
Ingredients.
5 cups basil leaves, packed
3/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2-3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (you probably won’t use all of this)
1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
Directions.
Put the basil, pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor and pulse until it’s finely chopped. Scrape down the sides. Turn the blender back on and slowly stream in the olive oil until the mixture is smooth, creamy and thick. Transfer the pesto to a bowl and stir in the parmesan cheese*. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
*leave the cheese out if you are planning to freeze the pesto. If freezing, spoon the pesto into ice cube trays, cover with plastic wrap and freeze overnight before transferring the cubes into a large ziploc bag.
Have fun and enjoy!!!
PRINTABLE RECIPE.
BASIL PESTO
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