Piece of life
Growing basil has been a big challenge! I’ve been trying to grow it for a few years now. I have tried every way, from the seed to planting a bigger plant indoors and outdoors. I had many [but so many !] failures. But I love it, so I kept trying. Imagine how happy I was when I finally succeeded in maintaining one. It has been growing for 3 months now, and it is flourishing. Maybe even a little too much, when I returned from vacation I found huge stems.
And what to do with so much basil? Pesto, of course!
About the pesto sauce recipe
This is my first pesto! I feel so proud of myself [yet it’s very easy to make].
Traditionally pesto is made from the variety of basil from the Liguria region [Italy] and olive oil that is also local. Of course, I don’t have access to these products, so I used my usual ones.
I wanted to go pro and use a mortar and pestle; well, that didn’t work out too well. My mortar is too small, and I found it hard to crush the basil leaves. So I pulled out the blender to the rescue [shocking the purists, sorry]. The main caution with the blender is to avoid over blending, you don’t want to heat up the basil leaves. I use the “chopper” function to chop the basil in short bursts until I get the desired consistency [thick and creamy].
A friendly tip regarding the garlic : I recommend using 1 SMALL clove of garlic, or even just 1/2 a clove. Since the garlic is raw in this recipe, its flavour is pronounced and can quickly take over.
Serve this pesto with pasta, or on pizza or a slice of bread. It’s simply delicious!
Easy homemade pesto sauce
Équipements
- Food chopper (or mortar and pestle)
Ingredients
- 40 g of basil
- 1/2 to 1 clove of garlic
- 15 g of pine nuts
- 50 g of olive oil
- 25 g parmesan cheese
- 15 g pecorino cheese
- salt to taste
Instructions
- In the bowl of the chopper (or the mortar), combine the pine nuts, garlic and salt. Blend well to obtain a paste.
- Add the basil leaves. Blend for a few seconds at a time (so as not to heat up the basil), until you get the desired consistency (creamy usually, I prefer it a bit grainy).
- Add the cheeses, then start pouring in the olive oil. Mix as you add the oil.
