Pesto Paste
Servings
1 batch
Prep time
10
minutesCooking time
5
minutesCalories
300
kcalTotal time
15
minutesIngredients
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.
