Tasty Tuesday- Pesto

This afternoon Abby and I picked basil and mint to make some fresh pesto and strawberry mint lemonade. My basil plant had gotten so big and plentiful that we really needed to do something with it and Abby loves mint and wanted to do something with it. So I looked up a recipe for pesto and we got to cooking.

I picked the basil and Abby picked the mint. And then the girls started seperating the leaves from the stems.

And then Abby and Elizabeth started washing and laying the basil out to dry.
Anyway, once it was washed we got to the making of the pesto. Here's the recipe. Tweak it to your taste as needed.

Elizabeth is watching the pesto in the food processor.

Fresh Basil Pesto Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

1 Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.) Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.

2 Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Makes 1 cup.

Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.

Here's a picture of the wonderful strawberry mint lemonade we made as well.