Pesto is an Italian sauce traditionally made with pine nuts, olive oil, garlic, salt and fresh basil using a mortar and pestle.
All kinds of variations have sprung from this recipe including ones with different nuts and in place of the basil ingredients like arugula, artichokes, red peppers or spinach. The possibilities are endless.
This version uses meaty, toasted walnuts along with the more traditional ingredients. I like my pesto thinner than most, if you like a thick paste than cut down on the oil.
To keep your pesto sauce a vibrant green briefly blanch the basil leaves in boiling water then plunge into ice water. This step adds only a few extra minutes to the overall prep time but will prevent your sauce from turning color. If you don’t mind the murky color change then skip this step, it makes no difference in the overall flavor.
Pesto sauce is good on so many thing aside from pasta! Use it in place of butter, mayonnaise or mustard to rev up your sandwiches (I love it on grilled cheese), burgers, bruschetta and quesadillas.
Drizzle it in soups, over cooked chicken, shrimp, fish, meat and vegetables. Use it as a sauce for pizza, on eggs, as a dressing for pasta salad, mix it into your mashed potatoes, or make a vinaigrette for green salads.
Or just eat it with a spoon! It’s that good.
A fresh, raw sauce made with basil, walnuts, garlic, parmesan cheese and olive oil.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Blanch basil leaves in boiling water for 30 seconds, remove and immediately plunge into a large bowl of ice water. Drain and dry well on paper towels.
- Toast walnuts in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often about 5 minutes.
- Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and blend until smooth. Season to taste with salt. Store tightly covered in glass jar in refrigerator up to 1 week.
I like this very much. I experiment with different nuts for my pesto.