How to Make Pesto

You may or may not already know all about pesto, which is traditionally a mixture of fresh basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, salt, and olive oil.  Have you ever felt the need to bend the rules a bit in order to use what you already have on hand?

This is what happened last week when I decided that I wanted to use my new little mini food chopper to try and make homemade pesto.  I had a nice little potted basil plant ready to be harvested in my kitchen, and I was pretty sure I had everything else too.  Except, I didn’t actually have any pine nuts.  And I didn’t have any Parmesan, unless you count the powdery stuff in the back of the fridge.

So I decided to put on my mad scientist hat and just play around a little with the ingredients I did have on hand.  Since I also had fresh flat leaf parsley, I added in some of that with the basil.  Instead of pine nuts, I found cashews.  And instead of the Parmesan, I found feta.  Not very authentic, I know!

But the end result was absolutely right up my alley.  I love the flavor or basil, but I think sometimes it can take over EVERYTHING.  Adding some flat leaf parsley, which more of a neutral herb, makes a pesto more like, oh hey basil, rather than HELLOO BASIL!  The feta rounds it out with a nice creaminess, while still adding some of the saltiness that Parmesan would bring.  And honestly, I don’t think you would ever know there where cashews in there instead of pine nuts.  Sometimes it’s just nice to use up what you have on hand instead of buying a $7 bag of nuts!

You can also play with the amount of olive oil you add.  Try processing all the other ingredients first, and then add the olive oil a little at a time.  If you like it with some texture, like I do, stop pulsing a little early.

How do you like your pesto?  Do you use traditional ingredients, or take liberties to make it your own?

I’ve got a fabulous recipe for Roasted Baby Potatoes with Pesto coming up later this week that uses this take on pesto in a new way, but in the meantime, try adding it to pasta (of course), and also eggs, soups, toasted bread, and grilled chicken.  Don’t be afraid to bend the rules sometimes!

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