Real Pesto Recipe

We eat a lot of pesto in this house.  Winona loves it on just about everything.  If she doesn't really seem to want to eat it, just add some pesto.  I love it on a juicy tomato sandwich.  And there is nothing tastier than homemade pesto.

Even better than homemade pesto is hand-chopped pesto.  Honestly, there isn't a better way to do it.  There is a great deal of flavor that is lost in all the ingredients when you put in in a food processor and pulverize the cuss out of it.  

Making pesto (and then eating it directly afterwards) is one of the things I look forward to most about Summer.  Here is how we do it.  It's really easy, just make sure you have a very sharp chopping knife.

Also I know everyone thinks pine nuts are outrageous.  We have had the same small jar for over a year.  It has gone a long way and to us its worth it.  We really like the flavor.

Ingredients

• 1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
• 3 medium cloves of garlic
• 1 small handful of raw pine nuts
• roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and FRESHLY GRATED
• A few tablespoons of extra-virgin Olive oil

You want to chop some of the basil, add some of the pine nuts, add some of the garlic and chop, chop, chop.  Add some more basil, some more pine nuts, some more garlic and so on.  It is really important for the knife to be very sharp or you risk just bruising the basil.  Then its just slimy and ugly.

We like to keep a big block of Parmesan cheese on hand for all of our "Italian" cooking needs.  =)

Once you get everything chopped, form a nice little pesto cake.

Put it in your container and pour a few tablespoons of olive oil on top.  This wasn't supposed to be mixed for photo purposed but Jake got excited.  

It will keep in your fridge for a few days, but is best when eaten immediately.  It makes the perfect pasta sauce.  Just stir it all up and TADA.  Delish.