Pesto is the Besto!

Whether you’re making a delicious pizza or an elegant plate of spaghetti, pesto makes for a fantastic sauce option. It’s also extremely versatile and a great way to spice up any dish (pesto glazed salmon anyone?).

On top of its versatility it’s also incredibly easy to make. All you need are a couple of fresh ingredients and a decent food processor (or a mortar and pestle, if you’re feeling extra heroic).

Ingredients

1 cup of freshly grated parmesan cheese (Make sure to grate the cheese yourself, it’s a little extra work, but well worth it. I generally use Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.)
2 cups of fresh basil leaves
⅓ cup of pine nuts
5 peeled cloves of garlic (This can be modified depending on your personal taste.  I really like garlic.)
¾ cup of extra virgin olive oil

Step 1: Place all the ingredients in a food processor and mix until they are well incorporated. If the mixture is too thick, you may need to add some extra olive oil.

Step 2: There are no more steps…

This recipe will yield around 2 cups of pesto. I generally freeze what I don’t use, and it will keep for up to 3 months.

Once you’ve had your fill of the basic recipe, you may want to try creating different types of pestos by swapping some of the main ingredients. Just keep the general pesto recipe in mind;

Pesto = Nuts + Herbs + Oil + Garlic + Cheese

For example, you could make a walnut cilantro pesto with avocado oil, Pecorino Romano cheese, and garlic.

Now that you know how easy it is to make homemade pesto, you’ll be sure to make some next time you have people over for dinner (just don’t tell them it only took you 2 minutes).