Eliana is a pasta loving fool just like her Mommy. If I allowed it, she’d blissfully eat pasta for three meals plus one snack each and every day. (And really, so would I!) Obviously, I don’t serve her pasta all day every day. But I know that when pasta is served, it will be gobbled up with no questions asked. What I didn’t expect was to feed her a third serving of pasta for dinner tonight!
Now that fall is setting in and the weather is cooler, I decided I should use the remaining basil from our garden sooner rather than later. To me a big bunch of basil means one thing: it’s time for pesto. Yum! The recipe I used is below.
- Pesto Sauce
- · Fresh basil
- · Pine nuts, toasted (I used walnuts in this batch. See the explanation below.)
- · Garlic clove(s), peeled
- · Shredded or grated Parmesan cheese
- · Olive oil, salt and pepper
- · Reserved cooking liquid from the pasta
**There are no amounts listed on this recipe because it all depends on the amount of basil I use. I like a lot of basil. For all ingredients except the Parmesan, I start by adding smaller amounts and work my way up because it is easier to add more of anything to the food processor than to take away.**
Toast the pine nuts over low heat for a few minutes until they are browned and fragrant. All ingredients go into the food processor. Puree. Taste and adjust levels as needed.
If I’m putting this over pasta, I reserve a mugful of the cooking liquid, drain the pasta and add it back into the pot. I add the pesto, which is kind of a paste consistency, and begin adding the reserved cooking liquid from the pasta. I mix it all up and add more water as needed to help thin out the pesto and avoid adding a lot more oil.
- Variations:
- – Add organic baby spinach as well as basil
- – Add fresh lemon or lime juice to brighten up the flavors
- – Substitute the pine nuts with toasted walnuts (I just discovered this by accident. When I opened up the freezer to grab the pine nuts, there were none. Gasp! But, there were walnuts, so toasted walnuts went into this current batch of pesto.)
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| Now this pasta shape looks fun! |
Tags: nuts
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