I was introduced to homemade pesto when I worked at a gardening day camp in Louisville, Kentucky. After the kids left for the day, the executive director of the camp walked to the back of the garden where the big, beautiful basil plants were. We pinched the tops off all the basil plants to prevent early flowering and filled two grocery bags with leaves. We walked back to his house to debrief the day and headed into the kitchen. I asked what he was going to do with all that basil. “Pesto!,” he replied. I watched as he started throwing basil, garlic, salt, parmesan, and walnuts into a food processor and drizzle a little lemon on top without measuring anything. He turned on the food processor and seconds later, viola, pesto!
My mind was blown.
Pesto had always seemed like such a magical, gourmet thing. It seemed like it would contain hard to find ingredients, or some special cooking process. But it wasn’t. Anyone could make it! It could be imprecise. It could use substitutions. It could be made in minutes. I haven’t bought pesto since.
Traditional pesto uses pine nuts, but as a poor graduate student drowning in student loans, pine nuts are prohibitively expensive. I have substituted the pine nuts with walnuts, pepitas, or even pistachios. It still tastes amazing. I’ve definitely forgotten to add the lemon juice before. It still tastes amazing. For this most recent batch, I was out of olive oil so I used coconut oil instead. It still tastes amazing. Moral of the story: homemade pesto is very forgiving and will taste amazing no matter what (…within reason).
Homemade pesto is a great at any time of day. One of my favorite breakfasts is a piece of nice bread smeared with pesto topped with a fried egg. For lunch, I throw a big dollop of pesto on spinach salads in place of dressing. At dinnertime, I put pesto on top of chicken or fish, or toss steamed broccoli in pesto to make it infinitely better. I’ll definitely eat my broccoli if it is doused in fresh pesto. I doubt you will have any trouble finding ways to eat this delicious homemade pesto. Enjoy!
- 2 cups whole basil leaves, rinsed and drained
- 4 garlic cloves
- 3 Tbsp. nuts (pine nuts, walnuts, or pepitas)
- 3 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 tsp. lemon juice
- Add all ingredients to a food processor and blend until smooth. If it looks too thick, add more oil 1 tablespoon at a time. Taste and adjust salt or lemon juice if necessary.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Homemade Hummus | Forks & Recreation
[…] to Zambia because I couldn’t face the thought of not being able to make homemade hummus (or homemade pesto). Only when I arrived did I realize that I couldn’t use it in Zambia because of the different […]