Pesto Paste
Print

Pesto Paste

Servings

1 batch

Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

5

minutes
Total time

15

minutes

Ingredients

  • 4 bunch fresh basil

  • 8 cloves garlic

  • asiago or parmesan (grated)

  • pine nuts

  • olive oil (as needed)

  • 1 hot chile peppers, seeded and chopped (or more to taste)

Directions

  • Pick as fresh basil as you can find. Works really well if you use a mix of different basils (I’ve used mixtures of sweet, Thai, purple & spicy and they all work well). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_basil_cultivars
  • Wash it well.
  • Place in food processor (to make this large a batch I fill my 8 cup processor about 3/4 of the way with slightly compressed leaves)
  • Add all other ingredients, except olive oil
  • Pulse, adding olive oil to get mixture to mix properly, stop & scrape outside of bowl at least once.
  • Can pulse to either chunky or smooth depending on how large you want your pine nuts to be

Notes

  • Freezes well by placing in small serving dishes (about 3 tablespoons in volume)on a cookie sheet. Once frozen I remove the pucks from the glass bowls & place in a ziplock bag.
  • To use I simply thaw & add enough olive oil to make it a liquid & coat my pasta or flat bread.