Hey presto, we have pesto!

We have a little potted garden at the back of our house. There we have a number of herbs and vegetables growing. Unfortunately, we don’t have any capacity to have a garden bed so we have to make do with these pots. So far we’ve enjoyed lots of parsley, chillies, lemons, chives and basil. Looking after these potted plants is like looking after a puppy. We need to ensure we nurture them diligently by giving them plant food, watering them every morning before the sun gets too hot and weeding them when needed. Read this article if you are interested in growing basil also!

I’m glad we’ve been able to grow basil. I truly love the smell of basil – it has the most amazing aroma. So fragrant and fresh. It’s great in tomato-based pasta dishes but I also love to use fresh basil pesto mixed through cooked pasta. Delicious. Try chicken basil pesto pasta for an idea for your next dinner meal. It’s super quick and easy to make using this basil pesto.

How to prevent basil pesto from turning brown

Basil tends to oxidise when heated up or left exposed to air. This means that your lovely, bright-green sauce will often turn brown before you get to serve it. While it is still delicious, it’s not ideal and loses its visual appeal. 

I’ve learnt over the years that the simple step of blanching the basil leaves first is incredibly vital. Doing so ensures your pesto retains its brilliant bright green colour and does not turn a muddy green/brown colour. The important step of blanching just adds a few extra minutes to the prep time while retaining both colour and flavour.

Serve also as a dip

I’ve made this basil pesto to serve at parties with crackers. Makes a quick and fragrant starter for everyone to enjoy before the main meal. Everyone enjoyed this and rarely would there be any leftover!

Basil Pesto

So versatile. You can use this pesto as a dip, spread onto bread to make brushetta, or include in pasta dishes. This is great to make in advance and store in your fridge.

Condiment, Dip, Italian, Vegetarian

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 3 minutes mins

Total Time 18 minutes mins

Servings 3 meals

Ingredients

 

• ¾ cup pine nuts
• 1½ cups fresh basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled
• ¾ cup grated parmesan cheese
• 5 tablespoons fragrant olive oil

Instructions

 

• Fill a large bowl with cold water and several ice cubes. Set aside.
• Bring a large pot of water to a fast boil. Add the salt and basil leaves and blanch for 15 seconds only. Immediately remove the leaves from the boiling water and place in the ice water bath. Once cooled (this only takes a few seconds), drain. Squeeze the leaves to remove all excess water and lay them on a paper towel.
• Heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Place pine nuts evenly on an oven tray and bake in oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown (but not burnt!). Let cool for 5 minutes before combining with other ingredients.
• Place all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and process 1-2 minutes until finely chopped.

Notes

• You can toast the pine nuts on top of the stove. Just keep the heat fairly low and keep swirling the pine nuts around to colour them fairly evenly. They toast up pretty quickly so keep a watchful eye on them and don't go wandering off! Pine nuts are too expensive to waste.
• Put the pesto into a small jar or container and tightly cover the top with plastic wrap. By tightly cover I mean so that no air exists on top of the pesto. 
• Use pesto right away, refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for up to 1 month.

Keyword Condiment, Dip, Italian, Vegetarian