Monday, August 27, 2018

Basil Pesto

We have so much basil in the garden that Lynne was able to whip up a pesto in minutes and wondered why we don’t do this more often
Pesto is very simple indeed to make and can be done in a blender in just a few moments, while the pasta is cooking. You don’t have to use basil – rocket, parsley, coriander all work well and you can vary the nuts – walnuts, almonds, pecans etc. Add a fresh chilli if you want it hot, especially good with coriander. Don’t make it too far in advance, as the colour can go very dark. You can try a squeeze of lemon, but that is not traditional. It also makes a really good cold pasta salad when used with rice shaped pasta. You need to make it in the proportions 3:1:1 herb, cheese, nuts
3 large handfuls of basil leaves – 25g grated parmesan or grana padano cheese – 25g pine nuts – 1 crushed clove of garlic – 2 T olive oil – salt and pepper

Put all the ingredients into your blender and blitz until you have a nice thick oily paste still with some texture, adding more oil if it looks a little dry, then adjust the seasoning and spoon onto hot pasta or onto a selection of lightly blanched vegetables

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