Fresh Basil Pesto

Finally, the spring is coming! Spring reminds me of color green. Trees start having small buds, and hills turn green once again. Fresh vegetables are fresher in the market, and even the air smells refreshing and green. I bought a bunch of basil yesterday to celebrate the spring with basil pesto. :) It is so simple to make, but once you have it you can use it in so many recipes including pasta, ravioli, salad, sandwich, pizza.... you name it.

The following recipe will make one pint of basil pesto. If you are not using it all right away, please transfer your pesto into a small air tight jar and keep it in a refrigerator. Some pesto recipes call for lemon juice, but I didn't add any lemon juice because I think lemon juice loses its flavor quickly. You can add lemon juice when you are actually cooking the pesto. To make fresh basil pesto, you can simply put everything in a food processor and blend them together. Or, you can take a few more steps to make more flavorful and vibrant green pesto. Hope you try my recipe.


FRESH BASIL PESTO
YIELD: ONE pint / COOKING TIME: 10 min.


INGREDIENTS


+ 5 cups fresh basil leaves
+ 1/2 cup pine nuts
+ two garlic cloves
+ 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Grana Padano) cheese (about 40-50g)
+ 1 cup high quality extra virgin olive oil
+ salt


PROCEDURES


1. I prefer toasting pine nuts and a garlic clove just little bit... which will release oil from the ingredients and give the pesto a slight toasty & sweeter notes versus raw flavors. In a small pan, add two cloves of garlic and a half cup of pine nuts over low-medium heat without any addition of oil. Toss them together until pine nuts start to show light golden brown spots (about 2 minutes). Turn off the heat and cool off the pine nuts and garlic.



2. Grate Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese for one cup. It weighs about 40-50g - from the internet, I found out that 50g Parmigiano-Reggiano yields only 1/2cup... well, I am not sure why my measurement was different from what I found on the internet. Please adjust the amount of cheese as you wish after tasting the final product. I think 50g should be enough though.



Now, set up the cooled down pine nuts & garlic, fresh basil leaves, grated cheese, extra virgin olive oil, and salt. A small rubber spatula will be handy to scrap down the pesto to the center of blender while you are adding ingredients, as well as to transfer the finished pesto to another container.



3. Pour the cooled down pine nuts and garlic to the mini food processor. Blend it until you don't see any big chunk of garlic. (You can use regular food processor, or even hand blender.)



4. Add fresh basil leaves (cleaned with water and pat dried) to the food processor in batches - you might be able to blend them at once if you are using regular size food processor. Blend them with a tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil until the paste is smooth.



5. Add freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (or Grana Padano) cheese and blend together.



6. Finally, drizzle extra virgin olive oil while blending the mixture to make smooth pesto.



7. Taste and adjust seasoning with salt if needed. Transfer the pesto into a little jar and keep in the refrigerator until use. If you don't plan to use the pesto in the next two days, you can freeze it in an ice cube tray.



Hope you enjoy the pesto. Thank you!