Happy Monday everyone!
I had a crazy but semi-relaxing weekend. There’s just so much to do and definitely not enough time in the day!
I am also thrilled to announce that I am now the proud owner of a new Rav-4! You see, I’ve been driving a manual since we moved to Virginia and now that I’m commuting an hour each way to work every day, I needed something a little safer (read: 4 wheel drive) to take me through the winter. She’ll definitely make the drive worth it!
I was looking through past blog recipes this weekend and realized that even though I post recipes with pesto in them all the time, I’ve never actually shared my own pesto recipe. Time for that to change! I love making fresh pesto–the smell, the freshness that you just can’t get out of a container–but always have a hard time swallowing the price of pine nuts. Seriously, why are they so gosh darn expensive?
But with summer coming to a close, I had to suck it up and make it one last time. And, wouldn’t you know, I had to keep myself from licking the bowl clean–it was that good. The pine nuts may have been costly, but the flavor was so much more than you could ever get from the packaged stuff.
The quality of the pesto is really dictated by your ingredients. We always use good quality basil, lemon juice, pine nuts, feta cheese, and really really really good quality olive oil–it makes such a difference (really). I’ve experimented with using almonds or even eliminating nuts altogether when I’m feeling even more frugal, but nothing beats the combination of those 5 classic ingredients.
Stay tuned on Wednesday for what we used it for!
Fresh Homemade Pesto
Makes about 1 cup
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons pine nuts
2 tablespoons feta cheese
1/4 cup olive oil
Steps:
Combine the first four ingredients in the food processor and grind until combined but not completely smooth. Spoon pesto into a small bowl and slowly add the olive oil until you reach desired consistency.
To store, place in an airtight container and top with a layer of olive oil.
Enjoy!
Time: 10 minutes
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