Pesto Sauce
So this recipe was difficult for me to write because so much of it is to taste. Below you will find a basic pesto recipe that I use on pasta, pizza, sandwiches, gnocchi, chicken, you name it! I actually made this the other day and wow did my kitchen smell like summer. This is a good amount of sauce for any of the recipes that are going to call for pesto sauce. Also, I do not recommend buying pesto sauce; I did once and it was sweetened with sugar (yuck) and was way too salty.
This recipe was originally posted on 02 March, 2013!
PrintPesto Sauce
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 1/2 Cup 1x
Description
A recipe for the classic sauce characterized by fresh basil, pine nuts, garlic and parmesan cheese; switch up the herbs and nuts to make it your own 🙂
Ingredients
1 Cup packed basil leaves
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp toasted pine nuts (cooled to room temperature)
2 Cloves garlic
Pinch salt
Pepper
Instructions
In a dry pan over medium low heat, toast the pine nuts until they are slightly darkened and you can smell them (about 10 minutes). Set aside and let them cool.
In a food processor or blender, mix all of the ingredients into a paste.
Notes
- Go very easy on the salt because the Parmesan cheese has a lot of it.
- If the sauce is too thick for your taste thin it out a little with some more olive oil.
- This is a very garlicky sauce, if you are sensitive to garlic just use one clove in this recipe (I love garlic; I use both cloves!). Keep in mind though that when you add this sauce to anything hot, the garlic will mellow.
- Feel free to use the traditional mortar and pestle; I don’t have one so the food processor it is!
- Prep Time: 10 Minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: Raw-ish
- Cuisine: Italian