When you have fresh basil in the garden, you want to make the most of it and use it up. While I do use it fresh in pasta sauces, stews, and soups, this year I wanted to try something different. Something flavourful that we have never tried before. I began looking for ideas and recipes to use it in. Since I have never tried Pesto, that was going to be my choice to use up some of my basil.
The day I decided to try it out, I realized I didn’t have all of the ingredients. So I headed out and picked up a few staples and headed home.
I went out to the balcony and pruned my Basil plant and included some flowers that had grown on the plant. The leaves and flowers were cleaned in the strainer and I pulled out the remaining ingredients. I used my blender to pulse the ingredients, however, I am sure it would have been better with a food processor if I had one.
Using a blender made it a bit harder to get the pine nuts and garlic into tiny pieces.
Pesto Sauce
- 2 Cups of fresh Basil
- 4 Cloves of garlic
- ½ Cup of pine nuts
- ¼ Cup fresh grated parmesan
- ½ Cup of olive oil
- pinch of salt
- Combine the basil, nuts, garlic, and salt and add to the blender using the pulse feature until it is like a paste
- Transfer ingredients into a bowl and add the oil and cheese.
Making Pesto was a quick and easy idea to add a different taste to dinners and more. Add it to pasta or even chicken.
The day I made the Pesto, I also made some homemade French loaves and added a layer to the top of one loaf to give it a different taste than usual. I will use the be using the remaining sauce this week over pasta.
Have you tried Pesto and did you like it? My daughter wasn’t a fan but my hubby did like it and he is picky. I really enjoyed it for my first time trying and making it.
Mama Bear’s Haven is a Canadian lifestyle blog created by Tammy Bell in 2012. She loves cold brew tea, chocolate and taking pictures of nature.There's recipes, parenting tips and crafts.
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