I’ve been harvesting opal and green basil from the garden, so it’s pesto season. I always have basil in my summer garden, and since opal basil is hard to find, I grow my own. If you can’t find opal basil starts, try growing them from seed or purchasing at your local farmer’s market.
If you make it in a blender, you will probably need to add more oil to get it to purée.
The Recipe
Here’s what I use to make pesto and how I make it in my Cuisinart Food Processor.
Ingredients
Directions
- Pick basil and parsley leaves from stems, rinse in cold water to clean and place in a colander to drain.
- Place the basil and parsley into the Cuisinart, filling to the top.
- Place pine nuts in a skillet, turn heat to medium and toast pine nuts in the pan, shaking pan to keep the pine nuts evenly toasted. Cook about 3 or 4 minutes until the pine nuts are browned. You don’t need to add any oil to the pan, just add the pine nuts.
- Cut the hard cheese into ¼ inch cubes.
- Peel the garlic. Place the cheese, whole garlic cloves and pine nuts on top of the basil in the food processor. Add the salt, pepper. I like to add these to the top so it adds weight to the basil and helps it purée easier.
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Place the lid on the processor, and while pulsing, slowly add the oil through the tube at the top.
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Replace the lid and continue to blend the pesto until basil, parsley, garlic, and cheese are finely minced into a paste.
Thanks Cindy! Really good!