Pesto!

I love pesto.  More importantly, Kat loves pesto.  Thankfully, it’s super-easy and one batch makes for a couple of meals so long as my beloved wife doesn’t eat it all in the middle of the night….

Anyway, this makes about 3 cups.

Shopping list:

• 1 cup pine nuts (5oz by weight)
• 1 cup basil (two bunches, 4oz)
• 1 cup shredded parmesan (not the cheap stuff)
• 4-ish cloves garlic
• olive oil

So the recipe is like this:  Combine all the dry ingredients in a food processor. Mine’s a bit small, so I have to add the ingredients in batches and give a pulse or two to make room for more.  Add  several tablespoons of olive oil at a time to keep it moist while you pulse the processor until it’s got a nice, grainy texture like in the photo.

At this point, the pesto will be on the dry side. What I like to do is empty it out into a container, and then mix in a little more oil at a time, stirring until it’s more than moist, but not saucy (kinda like in the photo).  The oil will separate some, so mixing before using is necessary, but some of the oil comes to the top in the container, and helps it last longer.

It’ll keep in the fridge for a week, but it never lasts that long around here.

One note about pine nuts:  It’s best to look a couple of places in the grocery store: in the bulk bins, in the produce section, and in the baking section.  Prices can vary, but quality won’t.  5oz of pine nuts should make two batches of pesto, and they’ll keep a long time.