Homemade pesto recipe

Pesto is a really versatile sauce and not just good for pasta. You can use pesto to jazz up some simple steamed or roasted vegetables or add a spoonful into a bowl of soup to add an extra level of flavour. 

The combination of the aromatic herbs and the umami tanginess of parmesan cheese makes this a great sauce to always have on hand. 

You can easily buy ready made pesto in the shops but if you make your own, you will know exactly what quality of ingredients have been used especially olive oil. 

Homemade pesto recipe

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 7 minutes

Homemade pesto is an essential store cupboard sauce to have. It's so easy to make you own. This recipe can be done in minutes and you can keep it in the fridge for weeks, if it lasts that long.

The amounts are not precise as you can adjust it to taste.

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Ingredients

• one big bunch fresh basil
• 50g pine nuts
• 50g parmesan cheese, roughly grated
• 50 - 100ml High quality extra virgin olive oil to desired consistency

Instructions

1. Grate your parmesan cheese
2. Place all ingredients in the blender. I used the Sage Super Q Blender which made this recipe super easy.
3. Use the pulse function on your blender, and the tamper to push down the leaves.
4. Within a couple of minutes, the roughly pulsed ingredients would have created a gorgeous green sauce and you should be able to see flecks of the nuts and cheese.
5. Serve with a bowl of al dente paste, a spoonful in a bowl of soup or even use it to dress a warm salad or a piece of fish.

Notes

Note: you don't need to add salt to pesto as the cheese is quite salty. You can salt the finished dish to taste later. It's easier to add than to subtract.

Sage Super Q Blender available from Amazon