Cooking Blog: Pesto!

As soon as our friends began to hear how much we like our pesto recipe, they started bringing us bunches of basil from their gardens. Apparently the word has gotten out, because this is the third "surprise" bunch that has appeared in our hands in recent weeks.

Thanks to Janet and Paul and Julia for each of the batches. Wahoo!

This is as good as it gets in our household. Paula got the recipe from her sister in law Debbie, who comes from a long line of Italian cooks. Thanks Debbie!

Here is the recipe:

• 2 cups fresh basil (firmly packed)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons pine nuts
• t teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons picorino cheese, grated
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 3 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 Tablespoons water from the hot cooked pasta

Paula is pretty religious about using real, fresh, ingredients in this recipe - and I'm agreeing with her on this one. The results speak for themselves.

There's a slide show below with some of the steps, but basically it's just a food processor type of operation, serve over the spaghetti of your choice. 

I usually serve with a bit of extra olive oil with my spaghetti, Paula usually has hers straight.

The larger pics are on picasa.