Basil Pesto
Servings 4 small jars, Preparation Time 30 minutes
Our family's favourite pasta sauce is this version of a Basil Pesto. In the spring we plant many basil and parley plants. It is wonderful to have fresh basil available when your tomatoes start to ripen and fresh parsley to add to salads. When the growing season comes to a close, we are busy making our Basil Pesto in bulk. We use small jam jars to stare and freeze the pesto. If we are lucky, we will make it half through the winter before we need to turn to our local supermarkets to source the major ingredients.
- 1½ packed cups of fresh basil leaves, washed and stems removed. Use the basil variety of your choice. In our supermarkets Genovese Basil is the most commonly found. Our favourite is Thai Sweet Basil.
- ½ packed cup of fresh Italian parsley leaves, washed and stems removed
- 2 packed cups of fresh spinach leaves, washed
- 1 cup nutritional yeast
- ½ cup pine nuts or almonds
- ½ cup green olives, pitted
- 1 small green zucchini
- 4 cloves fresh garlic or teaspoon granulated garlic
- ½ to 1 cup of water
- Optional, salt and black pepper
- Except for salt and black pepper, add all the ingredients into your blender or food processor. Depending on your blender you may need to add more water in order to achieve a smooth blending of all the ingredients.
- Blend until smooth
- Taste the mixture, and add a little salt and pepper to suit your taste.
- You are ready to now use or store your Basil Pesto. We make it in bulk and the presto does freeze well. To use with a freshly made pasta, you may wish to warm in a microwave or over the stove before you them together.
The commonly found Basil Pesto you come across in recipes books or processed for supermarkets are made with some type of free-flowing oil, where olive oil is the most commonly used type of oil. They are more than flavourful and enjoyable to use, but they are very oily, which leaves oily mouthfeel. Oiliness is the common criticized attribute of these sauces. To avoid the oily feel, we use whole oils contributed by the whole foods of whole nuts and whole olives. The olives and nuts add the bulk to our presto's fat, but results are much different. There is no coating your mouth with layers of oil. Instead, you experience a creaminess, without a lingering oily mouthfeel or an overpowering lingering garlic aftertaste.
Mushroom Pesto
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