Pesto
This weekend we hosted a family barbecue and one of the side dishes was a large pesto pasta salad. Whilst pesto from a jar is convenient, making your own is so straightforward and tastes so much fresher. Plus you get the bonus of filling the house with the beautiful smell of basil.
You could toast the pine nuts in a dry pan to intensify their nuttiness, and you could also reserve a few of them, along with some of the basil leaves, to garnish the salad.
I used pecorino, an Italian cheese similar to parmesan but made with sheep’s milk, as I was catering for someone with an allergy to cows milk, but you could use either. And of course you don’t have to serve this with pasta, it would be good with fish, chicken, roasted vegetables or anything you fancy!
I’m pretty confident this went down well based on the spoonfuls my nephew was shovelling onto his plate. And the good news is it will keep a few days in the fridge.
- Ingredients:
- 40g pine nuts (toasted if you like, and you could reserve a few for decoration)
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
- 40g pecorino or parmesan, roughly chopped
- 40g basil leaves (reserve a few for decoration if you like)
- 6 tbsp olive oil
- A pinch each of salt and pepper
Step 1: Place all ingredients in a food processor and blitz until they are in a thick paste. Alternatively you could use a pestle and mortar. Add more olive oil if you want a looser consistency.
Serve immediately, or store in the fridge in a sealed tub, with a little extra olive oil over the top.
