Pesto Sauce

Pesto sauce is one of the easiest and fastest sauce that you can make because it does not require any cooking. It is also one sauce where you have to make sure everything is fresh because it will really come through for you. This simple yet tasty sauce includes parmigiano reggiano, basil, olive oil, pine nuts, and garlic which are mixed and blended in a food processor. Alternatively, you can use mortar and pestle using a circular motion to grind the ingredients together BUT who has the time or energy to do that? Hahaha... Certainly not I. The only drawback with using a food processor is that you have so many parts to clean afterwards but I will take that anytime of the day than to grind the ingredients manually. Speacking of food processors, I just realized as I was taking one out to use for this dish, that I have not 1 or 2 but 4 different food processors which came in different sizes. Aigoo...what was I thinking when I purchased these babies?...hahaha... Anyways,I used a small processor for thsi dish since I wasn't making a huge batch.

You have to get a block of parmigiano reggiao, not the pre-shredded version because it better in my opinion. Also, you can use walnuts if you do not have pine nuts. although they are a little pricey, I prefer pine nuts over walnuts though. Make sure that you wash and drain your basil before grinding. I used my salad spinner to get rid of the fluid from the basil.


Ingredients:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, stems removed
1/3 cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano
1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste




1. Place basil and pine nuts in food processor.


2. Process until it is grinded. Scrape the sides with spatula.


3. Add olive oil in steady stream while continuing to process using a food processor.
4. Add garlic and grated parmigiano reggiano. Blend until well incorporated.
5. Add salt and pepper to taste.