I've always found pesto from a jar pretty bland. I'd keep some in my kitchen for an emergency pantry raid when I don't have much in the cupboards, but had never been wowed by it. I recently had an overgrown basil plant that was in much need of trimming down, so did a bit of research, and based on what I already had I created my own pesto recipe.
Homemade is best
Wow the flavour of homemade pesto is far better than shop bought. And it's so simple and easy to make your own pesto.
I know tradition dictates lovingly labouring over a pestle and mortar to make your delicious pesto, but that was't for me. I wanted something quick and easy. So I got out my husbands Nutribullet and tried making it in that. It did take a few pauses to shake all the ingredients around in between blitzes, but overall it worked really well! And I would definitely add it to my nutibullet repetoire. Naturally if you don't have a Nutribullet, I'm sure other smoothie makers would do the job, or even better a food processor.
How to make your own pesto
Ingredients
- 1 large bunch Fresh basil
- 75 g Parmesan cheese Parmigiano Reggiano
- 200 g pine nuts untoasted
- 100 ml olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 large pinch black pepper
Instructions
- Weigh out all your ingredients.
- Leave the stalks on the basil
- Place the ingredients in a receptacle for your food processor.
- Blend together well. As the ingredients are quite dry, you may need to remove the container and shake it in between blitzes for better mixing.
Serve with your favourite pasta shape and roasted cherry tomatoes. Or dolloping on top of pizza is also really good!
Here are some alternative pesto recipes for you too:
Foraged wild garlic pesto from They Called It The Diamond Blog.
Sun-dried tomato, chilli and basil pesto from Jens food.
Rose petal and roasted tomato pesto from recipes from a pantry blog.
Fat-hen and chickweed pesto from Tin & Thyme.
Cavolo nero and hazlenut pesto from family friends food blog.
I have entered this recipe into the Seasonal Kitchen link up.
oh my, that does look so good. Basil is my favourite summer herb and you are so right about homemade pesto it's a different beast to the bought kind, so much better.
Thank you! I know I'd never really had proper homemade pesto before. I didn't know what I was missing! I agree I absolutely love basil x
Homemade is definitely best. Yum! I love the convertor to make for more/less people too. Very handy xx
Thanks! it's good isn't it?
The number of times I've messed up recipes trying to convert them with my poor maths!
I've never yet found a good shop bought pesto. Homemade is a different thing all together and yours looks delicious. I've just polished the last of ours off, so it must be time to make some more.
Definitely love to have a go at making my own! Love pesto. 🙂
It's so easy and so much more flavour than from a jar. Let me know how you get on 🙂
Great recipe with lovely photos, I've scheduled to Share on facebook. I found you through South Wales Bloggers!
Thanks Rich! I really appreciate it! Just checked out your blog too, will head over and 'like' your FB page to keep up to date 🙂
I love the pasta you've used. I can never find it anywhere. Pesto is one of my favourite things to make as you can be really experimental but can't go too far wrong. Thanks for linking to my post!
You're welcome! It sounds fab! I managed to find it in the high end pasta section of Tesco, such a pretty shape!
Such a gorgeous green colour.