My Favorite Pesto Recipe
"This is the best pesto recipe I've found yet. It's the perfect ratio of basil, pine nuts, garlic and Parmesan/Romano cheese."
- Ready In:
- 30mins
- Ingredients:
- 8
- Serves:
-
6
ingredients
- 2 cups of firmly packed basil leaves, washed and dried
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1⁄2 cup pine nuts
- 3⁄4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- 1⁄4 cup freshly grated romano cheese
- 1⁄2 cup olive oil, plus
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb pasta, I use wheel pasta
directions
- Combine 2 cups basil leaves, garlic and 1/3 of the pine nuts in a blender or food processor and puree to desired smoothness.
- Add 1/2 cup Parmesan and the Romano cheese and blend briefly.
- Pour in 1/2 cup olive oil and mix well.
- Set aside.
- Cook pasta in 4 quarts of water until very al dente.
- Drain and toss in a large bowl with the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil.
- Cool to room temperature, occasionally stiring the pasta to coat thoroughly.
- Mix reserved pesto with pasta.
- Garnish with the remaining nuts and fresh basil leaves and put the additional cheese in a serving bowl to put on top of pasta if desired.
- Serve at room temperature.
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Reviews
-
Served this over pasta and shrimp and it was excellent! I too toasted the pine nuts for added flavor. Great pesto! -
I love the flavor of this pesto - definitely 5 stars! And making the pesto was very very easy - 5 stars here, too. Somehow what to do with the other half cup grated cheese isn't mentioned in the recipe, but adding it to the pasta with the remaining pine nuts seemed natural, so no complaints there. I lightly toasted the pine nuts, which brought out their delicious flavor. My only problem with this was the pesto to pasta ratio. I made half a recipe of pesto and was going to use only half a pound of pasta, but the flavor seemed much too strong to me - perhaps this is a personal thing. For me, half a recipe of pesto with 1 lb pasta was just right. Thank you very much for posting this recipe. It will be used again.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
<p>I live with my husband, my 16 year-old son, our four- year old daughter, and two cats, one dog and a gecko. <br /> <br />I'm a stay-at-home mom as well as a Real Estate Agent with Connect Realty. It's keeping me busy and I don't have nearly as much time to check out Zaar as I'd like. <br /> <br />Although I really like to cook, I can't always devote the time to cooking. I've found many recipes on this site that can be made quickly that are very tasty and healthy. I've also found A TON of recipes that I'm dying to try. <br />I've been able to contribute a few recipes to this site. Just so you know, I am THE WORST when it comes to typing. Many errors. If you see a typo on a recipe of mine I apologize in advance. ;-)</p>
