Thursday, October 9, 2008

Pesto


My friend Diana has brought over some homemade pesto a couple of times now and we have loved it! She brought me some basil leaves from her plant the other day, and I told her, "Sorry, bring them back when you have turned them into pesto." Not really, I was happy to get free basil leaves and try making pesto on my own. I used Martha Stewart's recipe, and it turned out just fine. Next time I want to add parmesan cheese -- I wanted to this time but totally forgot.
Makes 1 3/4 cups

1 cup walnuts or pine nuts
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 cups (4 ounces) lightly packed fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts evenly on a rimmed baking sheet; toast in oven until golden and fragrant, tossing once, 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool completely.

Meanwhile, bring 4 cups salted water to a boil; add basil, and submerge with a spoon. Immediately drain in a colander. Rinse with cold water until cool, then pat basil completely dry in paper towels.

In a food processor, combine nuts, basil, and garlic; season generously with salt and pepper. Process until nuts are finely chopped. With machine running, pour oil in a steady stream through the feed tube; process until smooth. Use immediately, or freeze. To freeze, spoon pesto into an ice-cube tray (2 tablespoons per cube); cover with plastic wrap. Freeze overnight, then transfer cubes to a resealable plastic bag; keep up to 6 months. Defrost pesto at room temperature, about 20 minutes (or at 30-second intervals in the microwave). Mash with a fork before using in recipes.

3 comments:

Katrina said...

Marsha - how awesome are you making pesto like Martha?! I love your idea for the thai stir fry too. And, it's so cool that you included pictures of the ingredients. Thanks for telling me about your great blog!

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, I love good pesto. I've never made it before though. Is the flavor super strong because I have a hard time with strong pesto. It looks so good!

Laura said...

I gave you an award on my blog today. Congrats.