When summer hits and all the fresh basil is in the garden you have to make HOMEMADE PESTO SAUCE!!!
I love homemade pesto sauce!!! One year we grew basil in our garden in Arizona. Yes I said garden in Arizona, it can be done! Well, one day we had an issue with our watering system and it didn’t get water for a couple of days which is a life sentence in the desert. We moved on and then the next year all of a sudden we had basil again. It. Never. Went. Away. It would come back over and over and stronger and stronger. This honestly was pretty awesome because my family LOVES pasta dishes and I love basil! When you have more basil than you can use you generally first start making pesto sauce.
It is so fresh and flavorful and it can be used for so many things! One of my favorite non pasta uses is Grilled Pesto Chicken Sandwiches. I serve it with sweet potato fries and a basil/mayo dipping sauce and I’m in heaven! You can even use it in a spin on the classic caprese salad and make Cheesy Pesto Stuffed Tomatoes! It’s so easy to make! You can have it ready to go in less then five minutes! Homemade Pesto Sauce really is the taste of summer and a definite must make!
Ingredients
- 2 cups basil leaves should be firmly packed in measuring cup
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt or more to taste
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 Parmesan cheese grated
Instructions
- add basil, garlic and pine nuts to a food processor and blend until roughly chopped
- add in 1/2 tsp of salt, the pepper and 1/2 cup of the olive oil and process again
- slowly drizzle in the remaining oil
- pulse in the cheese then taste for salt and pepper, adding more if it needs it.
- store in an air tight container in the fridge
