Pesto is a no cook sauce that can be used in tons of recipes and you’ll never run out of ways to enjoy it, toss couple of spoons of this no-cook sauce with hot pasta or steamed vegetables, use it as a spread on sandwiches and wraps, or add to any sauce like marinara or cream for that extra kick of flavor and freshness.

Making pesto is the best way to use the extra Basil in garden or fridge, its a quick and easy. It is a lot cheaper to grow basil at home than buying the pack of it from market. The plant, if taken care well, grows pretty fast in bright light and little water every two days. The picture below is Basil from our garden.

A little goes a long way and its very simple to store the excess pesto. To store excess pesto: Line an ice-cube tray with plastic wrap and fill each pocket with the pesto. Freeze and then remove from the ice tray and store the cubes in a freezer bag. All you have to do to use them is defrost the amount of cubes you’ll need.

The top layer of Basil pesto darkens when exposed to air, so store in an air tight container, the pesto will stay greener longer that way and the aroma will be kept intact.

You’ll need a food processor or a blender with pulse option to make this recipe.

Makes about 2 cups of pesto, Ingredients you’ll need:

3 Cups fresh basil
3 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 to 3/4 cup Olive oil
3/4 tsp of Salt or to taste

Preparation:

Pulse basil, garlic, pine nuts and grated parmesan in a food processor, adding olive oil slowly, while the processor is running. Pulse until its a smooth paste. Scrape down the sides of the food processor as you pulse. It is important to add olive oil while pulsing as it will help to emulsify* and help keep the olive oil from separating.

Emulsify* is combining two liquids together which normally don’t mix easily. The olive oil and water content from basil usually will not mix well but while the processor is running, the mixture will be creamy, thick and smooth.