Tell me about Pesto

[math teacher]

How do I make it and what do I eat it with?

[marbel]

I  mostly buy pesto because it takes an enormous amount of basil to make even a little bit. 😄 I never manage to grow very much.  But when I have made it, I have used this recipe, it's pretty basic:

https://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/fresh_basil_pesto/

We use it for pasta and pizza mostly.  A grilled cheese sandwich made with roasted red peppers and a smear of pesto is lovely; a slice of turkey slipped in makes it more like dinner for some of my people. One of my kids loves shrimp tossed with it.  A spoonful into tomato or other soups never hurts.  Cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half and tossed with pesto, garlic, and more cheese and then baked for a little while is awesome; even my tomato haters like it. 

Looking forward to more ideas.

 

Edited July 12, 2020 by marbel

[LuvToRead]

I love pesto.  We just put it on pasta.  I use a similar recipe to the one posted above, except I use a mix of basil/baby spinach, no garlic, pecans in place of pine nuts, and I usually add some lemon zest/juice.  There are many ways to make pesto!  I did make pesto from oregano recently and it did not go over well.  Pairing it with tomatoes sounds delicious!

[barnwife]

Agreeing that basil pesto is far less work to buy because I'd need such large quantities, but I do make garlic scape pesto every year. (We grow...a lot...of garlic.) 

Sadly (or not, because more for me?) I am the only one in this household who likes it. I like to make pizza with it. Otherwise, I just put either kind on pasta. Ditto to being delicious with tomatoes. Tomato season is coming up here, so I will be eating a not small amount of pesto in the near future.

[Kebo]

Pesto is a staple in our house, and we usually grow our own basil for it, as basil is easy to grow and tolerates heat like a champ.  When we don't have enough home grown basil, we get it from Trader Joe's (they have large packages of organic and non-organic basil).  You can use almost any kind of nuts -- our usual recipe  is based on pistachios, and then I usually add some combination of pine nuts and cashews or a bit of cashew butter for creaminess.  Use a good quality of olive oil and be careful not to overblend the garlic and olive oil, as they can become bitter.  There are a ton of recipes out there, but after a while you can just wing it!  Pesto freezes well, just allow enough time to defrost it slowly.  

[Lori D.]

Putting pesto on pasta (tortellini is a favorite here) or chicken is most common. I've seen pesto used as a condiment and added to:
- broiled fish
- scrambled eggs
- chicken sandwich
- added to pizza
- bruschetta
- spread on flatbread
- baked into bread
- tossed with roasted veggies
- drizzle garden fresh sliced tomatoes with oil and add a dash of pesto
- add a little to salad also topped with an oil-vinegar dressing

Basil pesto is potent and rich, so a little goes a long way. Our pesto recipe:

- 2 cups packed, fresh, washed/dried basil leaves, with stems completely removed (stems are bitter!)
- 1/3 cup parsley leaves -- processed the same as the basil
- 1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 1 small glove garlic, crushed
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/3 cup olive oil (add in a bit at a time to desired consistency)

Put all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and blend to a uniform paste, scraping sides of processor/blender once or twice. If there are left-overs, store in a tightly lidded jar -- I first put a piece plastic wrap pushed down on top of the pesto to keep out air, as the air exposure turns the pesto from bright green to a dark color.


Basil pesto is the "flavor of summer" to our family, but we also like this parsley-feta pesto on Greek-a-Tikka Chicken recipe from Rachel Ray.

Edited July 12, 2020 by Lori D.

[marbel]

11 minutes ago, barnwife said:

Agreeing that basil pesto is far less work to buy because I'd need such large quantities, but I do make garlic scape pesto every year. (We grow...a lot...of garlic.) 

Sadly (or not, because more for me?) I am the only one in this household who likes it. I like to make pizza with it. Otherwise, I just put either kind on pasta. Ditto to being delicious with tomatoes. Tomato season is coming up here, so I will be eating a not small amount of pesto in the near future.

My daughter loves making pizza for herself with mini naan (purchased at Aldi and other places), pesto, and provolone or havarti cheese. We pretty much always have pesto and mini naans in the freezer, and of course there is always cheese in the fridge.  

[Liz CA]

You already got good recipes. Just wanted to add that it's my firm belief, almost anything lathered in pesto is good - perhaps with the exception of chocolate.  :)

[KungFuPanda]

I don’t know that I’d bother making pesto if I didn’t grow the leaves myself. It’s a nice way to preserve basil. It freezes really well. 
 

I use basil, nuts (pine or walnut), olive oil, Parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper. It’s fast and easy in a food processor. Sometimes I use half basil and half random garden surplus like kale or other herbs I need to use. 
 

I serve it on pizza, pasta, use as an ingredient when I need basil, and as a sandwich spread. One of my favorite summer sandwiches is French bread spread thickly with pesto and topped with a thick slice of mozzarella, fresh tomatoes, and spinach. 
 

ETA: you don’t ever cook it, so it’s easy to make and serve. I use this recipe: https://www.theyummylife.com/How_to_make_Pesto

Edited July 12, 2020 by KungFuPanda

[math teacher]

I do have one basil plant, but I may just plan on buying it premade. Makes me wish I had a jar right now.

[Spy Car]

In the early 70s I was introduced to making pesto by a very cool Italian -American guy who had lived in San Francisco's (Italian/bohemian) North Beach. I had never heard of pesto before. I guess I was about 13. He had a huge vegetable garden and grew his own basil.

He insisted everything be chopped by hand. Guess who got that job? 

The pasta we made with that pesto blew my mind.

I have made pesto plenty of times using a food processor over the decades, but IMO making it by hand is superior. 

If one is going to use a food processor, don't over process. Doing it by hand even once gives one an idea of what proper pesto texture should be. One can also mash the ingredients in a large mortar.

Bill

 

[KungFuPanda]

3 minutes ago, Spy Car said:

In the early 70s I was introduced to making pesto by a very cool Italian -American guy who had lived in San Francisco's (Italian/bohemian) North Beach. I had never heard of pesto before. I guess I was about 13. He had a huge vegetable garden and grew his own basil.

He insisted everything be chopped by hand. Guess who got that job? 

The pasta we made with that pesto blew my mind.

I have made pesto plenty of times using a food processor over the decades, but IMO making it by hand is superior. 

If one is going to use a food processor, don't over process. Doing it by hand even once gives one an idea of what proper pesto texture should be. One can also mash the ingredients in a large mortar.

Bill

 

I’m sure you’re right, but I’d NEVER make it more than once that way. I’m never making pesto when I feel like it. It’s always when the basil feels like it.  I saw the same recommendation the first time I made herbes salees. I hand chopped these perfect, tiny aromatics and all of my herbs. It took forever! The next year. It all went in the cuisinart and my end-of-year herbs were processed in minutes. I don’t know if there was a taste difference since I made them a year apart. I’m telling myself there wasn’t. 
 

 

 

[Spy Car]

1 minute ago, KungFuPanda said:

I’m sure you’re right, but I’d NEVER make it more than once that way. I’m never making pesto when I feel like it. It’s always when the basil feels like it.  I saw the same recommendation the first time I made herbes salees. I hand chopped these perfect, tiny aromatics and all of my herbs. It took forever! The next year. It all went in the cuisinart and my end-of-year herbs were processed in minutes. I don’t know if there was a taste difference since I made them a year apart. I’m telling myself there wasn’t. 
 

 

 

One can make delicious pesto in a food processor. The key is not to over process.

That's where doing it once by hand (which is admittedly laborious in comparison) can serve as a sort of "food education" that gives one a model to strive for. Turning a batch into a smooth basil puree by over-processing kills the sauce.

In contrast, it is hard to "under-process."

Even roughly chopped pesto with oil, garlic, and pine nuts (or other) will retain the fresh basil deliciousness. But over processed pesto takes on an oxidized taste that is quite unpleasant to me.

Bill

 

 

[ktgrok]

5 hours ago, LuvToRead said:

I love pesto.  We just put it on pasta.  I use a similar recipe to the one posted above, except I use a mix of basil/baby spinach, no garlic, pecans in place of pine nuts, and I usually add some lemon zest/juice.  There are many ways to make pesto!  I did make pesto from oregano recently and it did not go over well.  Pairing it with tomatoes sounds delicious!

Pesto without garlic??? Sacrilege! 

[ktgrok]

Basil, olive oil, garlic, parmesan cheese, and pine nuts or some other, less expensive nut. Process in food processor. Put on everything, lick off a spoon, drool over the goodness. 

[Amira]

I make a pesto (that some might not consider true pesto) with arugula, feta, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Super easy and we have it on pasta, or as a dip for flatbread, or as a sauce for pizza.

[Matryoshka]

4 minutes ago, Amira said:

I make a pesto (that some might not consider true pesto) with arugula, feta, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Super easy and we have it on pasta, or as a dip for flatbread, or as a sauce for pizza.

That may or may not be pesto, but it sounds gooood! 😄 

[LuvToRead]

15 minutes ago, Ktgrok said:

Pesto without garlic??? Sacrilege! 

My DD18 loves garlic and pesto, but she has a garlic intolerance!  It's so sad

[marbel]

1 minute ago, happysmileylady said:

Pesto freezes well?  

Yes. So I usually buy pesto at Costco, which I'm sure some might say is not authentic enough, or something, but it works for us. So that said... I freeze it in a shallow plastic container (could use a ziplock freezer bag) and when we need some we just break off what we need at the time. It freezes but does not get rock hard so it's easy to get the amount we want. I have this with homemade and Costco pestos, so I assume it works that way for all, but it might not.  It lasts for months.

 

[marbel]

9 minutes ago, Amira said:

I make a pesto (that some might not consider true pesto) with arugula, feta, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Super easy and we have it on pasta, or as a dip for flatbread, or as a sauce for pizza.

This sounds fantastic and next time I have some arugula I'm going to try it.  In the summer, pretty much anything with feta works for me. (For some reason I never want it in the wintertime.) 

 

[LuvToRead]

Now I want pesto!  My basil plants still haven't produced quite enough.  Maybe  in another week.

[bibiche]

16 minutes ago, Amira said:

I make a pesto (that some might not consider true pesto) with arugula, feta, garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil.  Super easy and we have it on pasta, or as a dip for flatbread, or as a sauce for pizza.

Something similar is a favorite here. We also like radish top pesto.  👍🏼

[catz]

We usually  only make pesto during basil season.  I might splurge over the  holidays if stores have bulk basil available.  I have a recipe that is made with walnuts which is a little cheaper  and easier to find than pine nuts.  Tastes fabulous though.  We eat with pasta, chicken, veggies, on pizza.  We usually make a big batch and freeze half.   So good!  

[Lori D.]

1 hour ago, Spy Car said:

One can make delicious pesto in a food processor. The key is not to over process...

Yes, that's what I do -- just hit the "pulse" button in a few short 2-3 second bursts until it's fairly uniform "grains" -- a blenderized-paste is too much. It doesn't take much processing.

[happi duck]

I use this no cheese recipe: https://www.marthastewart.com/337337/basil-pesto

I always use weight instead of cups for the basil.

I wonder if I over-process my pesto?  Probably!  I look forward to trying it differently next time.

Edited July 12, 2020 by happi duck

[ktgrok]

2 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

Pesto freezes well?  

Hmmmm....

 

I don't think I have ever tried pesto.  But I do have an enormous amount of it right now.  

I have seen it with like seafood pasta....is that pretty good?

 

Will it work with peanuts?  That's the only nut I have right now...

Or, will it work without nuts?

You can! Walnuts, cashews, etc work as well. But peanuts are cheapest. Pine nuts are tastiest. 

[marbel]

26 minutes ago, happysmileylady said:

So I was actually thinking about pesto when I did my big costco shop earlier this month.  And the pine nuts were THIRTY DOLLARS for the same size package of peanuts that were $5.  

Regardless, I have peanuts so just waiting for my processor to finish in the dishwasher lol.   

Yeah, we had to stop buying pine nuts, just too costly for us. I do buy a lot of walnuts and almonds though. 

Pine nuts and pesto are really good but not worth it for me. 

Edited July 12, 2020 by marbel

[Frances]

8 hours ago, marbel said:

My daughter loves making pizza for herself with mini naan (purchased at Aldi and other places), pesto, and provolone or havarti cheese. We pretty much always have pesto and mini naans in the freezer, and of course there is always cheese in the fridge.  

I make something similar, but with the whole grain Flatout for crust and crumbled feta cheese.

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, Ktgrok said:

You can! Walnuts, cashews, etc work as well. But peanuts are cheapest. Pine nuts are tastiest. 

I once made both pine nut and walnut pesto. My daughter declared the walnut better and asked if I could make more of that. Heck yeah I can. Walnuts are su much cheaper. Pine nuts are insanely expensive here and they done really have much flavor. I quit doing it “the right way”after that. I haven’t tried with cashews, but that sounds amazing. 

[Lori D.]

6 hours ago, happysmileylady said:

... I did my big costco shop earlier this month.  And the pine nuts were THIRTY DOLLARS for the same size package of peanuts that were $5...

Keep pine nuts in the freezer. Use sparingly as an accent or in pesto (NOT as a mindless snack food, lol). That Costco package of pine nuts lasts us for a good year.

Edited July 13, 2020 by Lori D.

[Amira]

9 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

Do you have a recipe?  I love feta, so I am eager to try this.

This is something like it, but I don’t really follow a recipe.  https://www.heatherdisarro.com/simple-arugula-pesto/

I buy mature arugula (that’s the way it’s used in most of the Middle East), so it’s more flavorful (some say more bitter) than what you’d probably find in the US  I use three bunches, a hunk of feta, a dollop of olive oil, a couple of cloves of fresh garlic, and at least a tablespoon of lemon juice, usually more.  Add salt if needed, and adjust anything.  

[Rosie_0801]

My mission this spring is to perfect a cleavers pesto. It's very healthful, and unfortunately tastes it.
Getting access to non-rancid nuts is a difficulty here.

[happi duck]

Trader Joe's has the best price for pine nuts, ime.  I toast them in a pan and cool before making pesto.

When y'all use different nuts are they raw?

[ktgrok]

I blame all of you for me now craving pesto, lol. And I'm trying to be good about carbs, so pasta isn't an option. 

I will be making some for lunch....not sure what to make with it. I have some chicken thighs that I can grill or make in the instant pot or air fryer. I have chicken breasts I could thaw and cook in the instant pot. 

I also have shrimp in the freezer.

Oh, and some zucchini I really really need to use. Maybe roast those in the air fryer and toss with shredded or cubed chicken and pesto? 

Or a pesto chicken salad? 

 

[LuvToRead]

56 minutes ago, happi duck said:

Trader Joe's has the best price for pine nuts, ime.  I toast them in a pan and cool before making pesto.

When y'all use different nuts are they raw?

I toast mine.