Homemade pesto sauce changed my world.

I’d been going along my whole life eating jarred pesto sauce, thinking it was pretty delicious… and then one day Brian and I had a cooking day with friends (because that’s what we do for fun) and we made it from scratch.

Oh. My. Word.

I’ve since been on a mission to make all of my friends and family try this amazing culinary creation, and we’ve incorporated pesto sauce into our Christmas dinner tradition – bright green pesto sauce and red tomato-basil sauce with pasta make for a really festive (and tasty) holiday table.

What amazes me most about pesto sauce is how quick and easy it is to make- I made this yesterday for lunch and it only took about 10 minutes. Of course, I also think it is better the next day after flavors have had a chance to mingle, so I typically like to make it the night before and have it ready to go the next day. I always make sure to try a little (ok… a lot) on a slice of bread, though, because it’s the responsible thing to do to taste test your creations before serving them to others, right?

Pesto Sauce

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Total time

10 mins

 

You can tweak this pesto sauce to get it exactly how you like it, which is why I've given you a range of amounts for some of the ingredients. I always start out with smaller amounts of ingredients, then taste, and add until I get it just how I like it (which usually involves adding copious amounts of Parmesan!). This sauce pairs great with hot or cold pasta, is tasty spread on bread and sandwiches, and makes a great base for a variety of pizzas.

Author: Christi

Recipe type: Sauce

Cuisine: Italian

Serves: 8-12

Ingredients

• 2-3 medium cloves of garlic
• 15-20 basil leaves
• ½-3/4 cup of olive oil
• ⅓ cup pine nuts
• 1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup parsley

Instructions

1. Using a food processor, combine the garlic, basil, and pine nuts.
2. Add ¼ cup of olive oil to the mixture, then add the Parmesan cheese.
3. As you blend the mixture, stream in olive oil a little at a time until you get the sauce to be smooth but not runny; generally about ½ cup total, but if you like your sauce a little thinner you can use up to ¾ cup.
4. Add salt, blend and taste; add more salt to taste as needed, but be conservative.
5. Add parsley, blend, and do one more taste.
6. Pour sauce into a small bowl and store in refrigerator until you're ready to use it.

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