Pesto Pronto

Have you been buying store bought pesto? Well, knock it off. Seriously, pesto is the easiest thing to make, ever. It's also one of the most incredibly versatile recipes out there, and if you make it yourself, you can make it the way you like it. I like mine awesome. It also is much more cost effective if you make it yourself, and you can make as much as you need for the recipe you're making, or make a whole bunch and save it in an airtight container for convenience. Pesto can go with so many things- in breakfast scrambles, in pasta, on sandwiches or wraps.. or you can just eat it right out of the container with a spoon sitting on your kitchen floor in the dark. Alright, so I'll give you the recipe, and since I do it by taste every time I make it, it won't be exactly spot on, so just taste it and go from there. I usually make about 1/4 cup at a time and either use it all or put the rest in the fridge. So this should make about 1/4 cup. If you want to make more, just keep adding more of each ingredient until it comes together the way you like it.

Basil Pesto

1 bunch of basil (washed and patted dry)

1 clove of garlic (chopped fine or crushed)

a few handfuls of parmesan cheese

a couple of glugs of evoo

about a 1/4 cup of pinenuts (toast nuts in a dry skillet on low for a few minutes)

In a food processor or blender, throw in a handful of basil leaves, the chopped garlic, parmesan cheese and pinenuts. Start blending this all together and slowly stream in the extra virgin olive oil. The pesto should start coming together and looking nice and smooth and creamy. (see the picture above) I like mine a little thicker than most, so I don't add in as much olive oil as most recipes. You go by whatever you like. As long as it will spread on a sandwich, I know it's ready. At this point, I taste it and see if it needs any salt, which usually it doesn't because of the parmesan cheese. Sometimes I'll add in more cheese, or more nuts or more basil leaves depending on how it tastes. The most important thing is to get a nice fresh basil taste. mmmm so delicious. See, easy! So easy!

So if you want to make different pestos, this recipe is really interchangeable. If you have spinach, throw in spinach instead of basil. If you have walnuts, throw in walnuts instead of pinenuts. If you're doing mexican and want a mexican pesto, use cilantro and pepitas (nuts) instead. See! Easy, versatile, and really, really delicious. This recipe is just a method.

Now go make this.