Has anyone made their own pesto?

thriftlady_2

Sharra wrote:

Have you made red pesto with sunflower seeds? If so a recipe would be appreciated, I made pesto last year but its soooo expensive.

Actually, it was red pesto;) It's not really a recipe,more of a formula.

2 parts herbs-basil for classic pesto,but parsley and coriander are good too.
1 part pine nuts-try sunflower seeds instead,or cashews,almonds or walnuts
1 part parmesan or pecorino.I think pecorino is cheaper.
A clove or 2 of garlic
Enough olive oil to make it the consistency you like-5 tbsp?

Additions
For red pesto I add a handful of sun-dried tomatoes
Roasted peppers are nice too

Put the basil,nuts/seeds, cheese and garlic in a food processor,add the oil as you blitz through the tube.

mirakl

I've just made tons of wild garlic pesto and it's great. I'm really pleased with it. I think I'll make this a yearly thing when the forest is full of it.

flower_chops

We've got a thriving basil plant and we're just not eating him quick enough so thought about making pesto...any tips?

liz.._4

I just whizz it all up with a blender and olive oil. You can add ground up pine nuts if you like.

singlehouseholder

pesto-basil, olive oil, pine nuts and parmesan, easy as. Whack them all in a food processor and whizz. Could try toasting pine nuts first for that extra smoky flavour. I had a basil plant(from shop, tried growing it and failed) I chop onions 'shrooms and garlic then bag it up with plenty of basil. Freeze it , its good for a stand by. Make pasta sauce, or stew, or side dish to go with a bit fish and some pots/rice. Or you could put some Basil leaves in some olive oil, tada, basil infused olive oil!

flower_chops

Wow! Loads of things I can do with old Basil then!

Thanks!

zombiecazz

I make pesto with any old nuts not just pine nuts, try walnuts, almonds. Last time I used the Cheapest chopped nuts.

Pink.

Hi flower_chops,

This is how I make pesto:

120g pine nuts
3/4 cloves of garlic
150g fresh basil
120g pecorino (or parmesan) cheese
200mls extra virgin olive oil

Put the pine nuts, garlic, basil and cheese into the food processor and whizz until it becomes a paste and then slowly drizzle in the olive oil. This makes quite a lot, but it keeps for ages in the fridge.

If you want you could freeze some of the basil. You can just tear the leaves and freeze them, but what I usually do is put them into an ice cube tray with a little water, freeze them and then take them out of the tray and store them in the freezer in a freezer bag. That way you can lift out as many as you need to add to sauces when you need them.

Pink

ageandjo

As promised my mums pesto sauce.
You can adjust the ingredients to your tasting but we have a whole bag of pine nuts for a bit of a kick:eek:

large hanfull of basil
whole bag of pine nuts
4 cloves of garlic
handful or fresh parmasan cheese
a good glug of decent olive oil
salt and pepper

Just wizz with a blender then hey pesto (ukkk hummm pardon the pun)

It's yummy hot or cold with pasta and salad with feta cheese:T

Uniscots97

sounds fab. Thank you.