My good friend Me-an recently had an operation and was back home to recuperate today. Since I was not able to visit her at the hospital, Dear Hubby and I went to their house to check up on her. Instead of bringing the usual flowers or pastries, I made pesto sauce for her from scratch. I knew it was her favorite so I thought this would be something she would enjoy. Easy for her to prepare too! She can just top it off pasta noodles, over baked potatoes or spread over a slice of french bread, and she’ll have a delicious home cooked meal in an instant!

Here’s my recipe should you feel the urge to eat pesto pasta! You can make it in 10 minutes tops with the help of a blender or food processor. Cheaper too than buying ready made pesto sauce!

2 cups fresh basil, packed
1/2 cup grated parmesan or romano cheese (if you are planning to freeze the pesto sauce, you can just add this to your dish separately)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
3 medium sized cloves of garlic
1/2 a lemon
salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Combine basil and nuts in a blender and pulse a couple of times
2. Add the garlic and pulse a few times more
3. Slowly add olive oil while the blender is on (using the “window”, keep the lid on of course)
4. Stop to scrape the sides with a spatula
5. Add cheese (if to be served immediately. If sauce will be placed in the freezer for future use, skip this step)
6. Squeeze out lemon juice and pulse (make sure to remove the seeds prior to pulsing)
7. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste

I normally freeze my pesto sauce in small containers so that I can only thaw enough for a meal.

Enjoy!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 am and is filed under Food, Bargains. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.