About this time every year I have an abundance of basil growing in my balcony garden. So I need to make a quick little bit of pesto.
Basic Pesto is very easy to make with just a few simple ingredients. The key is to use a good quality high fat nut. Traditionally pesto is made with pine nuts, but you can switch it up with pistachios or walnuts. Any high fat nut will work. Or go crazy and do a mix of nuts!
This time I used pistachios in my pesto, but I like to switch it up every time. I also like to keep it dairy free with some nutritional yeast instead of parmesan cheese, I don’t notice a difference in taste at all.
Give the ingredients a good blend till smooth and freeze. If you have the space, use an ice cube tray to freeze the pesto into cubes so you have individual portions ready to go anytime. I like to pull out my frozen pesto in the middle of winter to help give my food a fresh taste of summer.
I love to spread pesto on my pizza as sauce, or on sandwiches as a spread. And of-course it is always good thrown onto some fresh pasta.
Basic basil pesto is a great way to use up all that basil at the end of the summer.
Basic Basil Pesto
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup nuts (pine nuts, pistachio or walnuts)
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast (or parmesan)
- 2 tbsp lemon juice (1/2 a lemon)
- 3/4 cup olive oil
- 3 cups fresh basil leaves
- salt
- pepper
Instructions
- In a blender, start with the 1/2 cup each of nuts, nutritional yeast (or parmesan),2 tbsp lemon juice, and 3-4 cloves garlic. Give them a quick blend till finely chopped.
- Add 3 cups fresh basil leaves, and 3/4 cup olive oil. Blend till smooth.
- Add salt and pepper to taste and blend till mixed.
- Use immediately or freeze for future use.
