Looking for a good pesto recipe

[strwbrygirl]

I've tried a few lately, but they have been pretty bitter- which is why I'm asking for YOUR good pesto recipes instead of looking on a recipe website!

So, please share your wonderful pesto recipes!! :D

[tlew12778]

Hehe.
Ok so the trick to pesto is the type of basil you use. True pesto comes from Liguria and therefore you need Genovese basil (http://www.superbherbs.net/GenoveseBasil.htm). I would give you my recipe but I just eyeball it. I use basil (grown on my balcony in the middle of Milan), pine nuts, grana padano, extra virgin olive oil (my olive oil is actually also from Liguria but that's just a coincidence since we like the flavor) and a tiny bit of fresh garlic and salt.
The second trick is to freeze your food processor bowl. I actually use a mini chopper and I never freeze mine, but if you want cold pesto, you should freeze it first.
The thing with pesto is that you need to really do it to taste. When I used to live in the US, I could never find the right basil and my pesto always sucked. Also, it has to be organic basil bc that really changes the flavor of the pesto. Just add the ingredients a little bit at a time bc you don't want anything to overpower the basil.

[thedoorchick]

I guess some things just aren't the same outside of Italy!

Man, now I *really* want to go back there.

[ee_chick]

I agree with Tiffany that it's a matter of using quality ingredients and mixing to taste. That said, I start with this recipe:

3 large garlic cloves
1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
2 oz Parmigiano-Reggiano, coarsely grated (2/3 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups loosely packed fresh basil
1 cup parsley
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

With food processor running, drop in garlic and finely chop. Stop motor and add nuts, cheese, salt, pepper, and basil, then process until finely chopped. With motor running, add oil, blending until incorporated.

I like how the parsley cuts the basil's sharpness.

I also like this variation


spinach pesto
Giada De Laurentiis

2 cups lightly packed baby spinach leaves (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 to 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Combine the spinach, pine nuts, lemon juice, and lemon peel in a processor. Lightly pulse. With the machine running, gradually add 1/3 cup of the oil, blending until the mixture is creamy. Add salt and pulse.


When I have extra, I freeze it (ice cub tray then ziploc) so I have it on hand for veggies, sandwiches, etc.

[kemaji]

My mom would make a pesto recipe very similar to the first one that ee_chick posted above. The one thing that I found made a difference was using Italian flat leaf parsley rather than the regular curly leaf parsley.

[meganth]

I love my simple, basic pesto sauce, but i just eyeball it so i have no clue what i use!!!

I use 3 good handfuls of basil (somewhere between 2-3 cups) from the backyard
3-4 cloves of garlic (i love it garlic-y!)

i put them both in the food processor and then start adding EVOO till it's the consistency i want it to be.

I always add the cheese after to the pasta. I never put in pine nuts because i always forget to buy them and never have any on hand - i always have basil, garlic and evoo on hand.

[strwbrygirl]

Hmm... thanks for all of the great suggestions! I'll have to try it with Genovese basil and see how it turns out... maybe I'll have to make a detour to the garden center on the way home and see if I can find a plant! I'll let you know how it turns out. :)

[seapod]

I have a pesto recipe that uses cilantro instead of basil( is cilantro a type of parsley?) I'm house sitting so it's going to be into the weekend before I can post it.
Heather

[tlew12778]

Cilantro is the parsley family but the taste is totally different. It doesn't make you ill? Parsley in high quantities causes stomach contractions. It was used in Italy as an abortificant until abortion was legalised in the late 70s/early 80s.

[thedoorchick]

I hadn't heard that about parsley. I wonder if it is all parsley or just the regular kind?

I often use cilantro in Mexican cooking but I haven't used it for pesto, though I have heard of doing that.

I want to say that I have also heard of parsley being used in green sauces in other kinds of cooking, maybe Spanish? I can't recall. Maybe the quantities aren't significant enough to hurt you when it's used just as flavoring (in a sauce).

[tlew12778]

Yeah you've got to use A LOT of it. But I would think that a pesto based on parsley is quite a bit.

[tgray99]

I made basil pesto today and got it a little too salty. Is there a way to fix it?

[MLA]

I've found that blanching the garlic first (dropping it in boiling water for about 30 seconds) takes away the bitterness. It makes the garlic more mild.

[tgray99]

I let it sit in the fridge for a while and it mellowed out.

Dinner was fantastic. I'm in love with fresh basil. :)

[Pine Tree]

I've made a bunch of variations off of the basic recipe (basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesean, pine nuts). I often add a bit of lemon juice or a roasted red pepper. My favourite variation was sunflower seeds (unsalted) instead of pine nuts.

You would have to eat an outrageous amount of parsley to have any sort of effect. Tabbouli (sp?) has way more parsley in it than a pesto sauce would and is safe even in large quantities.