Basil Pesto Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 3 Cups Fresh (live) Basil, including the delicate stems. Remove the hard, woody stems.
  • 1/3 Cup Lightly Salted, Dry-Roasted Cashews. Halves and pieces are fine.
  • 1 or 2 Ounces Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (a block about 1/2″ x 2″ x 2″)
  • 2 Cloves Garlic
  • Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
  • Start with 1/4 tsp and add more if needed. Careful! - There's very little difference between enough salt to make it perfect and enough to make it too salty.

Directions

  • Add the nuts to the food processor with a sharp metal blade and as grind finely as possible.
  • Add the grated cheese and garlic cloves and salt and process as finely as possible.
  • Add the basil to the food processor and process as finely as possible.
  • With the food processor still running, add Extra Virgin Olive oil until it has the consistency of a thick sauce. If the mixture sticks to the side of the bowl, you'll need to stop and scrape it down. I usually need to do this once.

Notes

  • The delicate stems taste just as good as the leaves and there's no need to waste them. Use everything except the thick, woody stems.
  • Store the extra pesto in the refrigerator in a glass jar with a lid. Before refrigerating, smooth out the surface and gently float a thin layer of olive oil on top. The oil will keep air away from the pesto and will prevent it from discoloring.
  • Basil Pesto was traditionally made with pine nuts, however I switched to dry-roasted, lightly-salted cashews because:
    • Cashews are about $6/pound. Pine nuts are $30+
    • Nearly all the pine nuts I found appear to actually be Chinese or counterfeit "Italian" and not actually from Italy.
    • Cashews don't cause Pine Mouth
    • None of my guests has ever noticed the difference.