canarybird
27-07-2013, 20:46
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July 27, 2013
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If you love pesto as I do, you may be looking for fresh basil or growing your own since it's at its best right now for
collecting the leaves and making pesto.
Pesto goes on spaghetti, can be spread over meat or chicken and frozen in cubes to add to winter stews.
Here's a recipe I copied and have used after watching an Italian TV chef prepare this outdoors using just a mortar and pestle to grind up the ingredients.
I have also done it that way but it's very laborious and I prefer my food processor.
A blender doesn't work somehow as it makes a soupy consistency, not right at all.
The recipe normally calls for pine nuts (piņones in Spanish) I was told that walnuts work just as well and are less expensive
with a few less calories, so I have used them ever since I first tried them and they are just fine for me.
Here's a photo of the results on one of my previous pesto making days, and the recipe is below.
The cup measurement is a standard 8 ounce measuring cup, but I use a large 4 cup Pyrex one as it's easier to press down and measure the basil leaves.
A slightly cheaper cheese to use in place of Parmesano is Grana Padano from Mercadona. It comes as a hard triangle
of cheese in a shrink pack which you must grate yourself. I find it tastes very much the same as Parmesano.
http://canarybird.smugmug.com/Food/Food-2010/i-ZpdFqJz/0/L/P3152946%20pesto-L.jpg
Just spoon this over freshly cooked spaghetti and enjoy!
I think you can never have enough pesto so I usually double this recipe, which makes about one cup.
PESTO
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups basil leaves (pressed down a little into the measuring cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese...or use Grana Padano
1/2 cup pine nuts or peeled walnuts (nuez mondada)
1 teaspoon water...(my addition. I always seem to need it)
1/2 cup olive oil
Process all in a food processor, slowly adding the olive oil and processing until you have the desired consistency.
Canarybird
July 27, 2013
.
If you love pesto as I do, you may be looking for fresh basil or growing your own since it's at its best right now for
collecting the leaves and making pesto.
Pesto goes on spaghetti, can be spread over meat or chicken and frozen in cubes to add to winter stews.
Here's a recipe I copied and have used after watching an Italian TV chef prepare this outdoors using just a mortar and pestle to grind up the ingredients.
I have also done it that way but it's very laborious and I prefer my food processor.
A blender doesn't work somehow as it makes a soupy consistency, not right at all.
The recipe normally calls for pine nuts (piņones in Spanish) I was told that walnuts work just as well and are less expensive
with a few less calories, so I have used them ever since I first tried them and they are just fine for me.
Here's a photo of the results on one of my previous pesto making days, and the recipe is below.
The cup measurement is a standard 8 ounce measuring cup, but I use a large 4 cup Pyrex one as it's easier to press down and measure the basil leaves.
A slightly cheaper cheese to use in place of Parmesano is Grana Padano from Mercadona. It comes as a hard triangle
of cheese in a shrink pack which you must grate yourself. I find it tastes very much the same as Parmesano.
http://canarybird.smugmug.com/Food/Food-2010/i-ZpdFqJz/0/L/P3152946%20pesto-L.jpg
Just spoon this over freshly cooked spaghetti and enjoy!
I think you can never have enough pesto so I usually double this recipe, which makes about one cup.
PESTO
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cups basil leaves (pressed down a little into the measuring cup)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese...or use Grana Padano
1/2 cup pine nuts or peeled walnuts (nuez mondada)
1 teaspoon water...(my addition. I always seem to need it)
1/2 cup olive oil
Process all in a food processor, slowly adding the olive oil and processing until you have the desired consistency.
Canarybird