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Pesto

Pesto is an Italian sauce made from pine nuts, Parmesan and basil. It's very simple but quite delicious, and goes particularly well with pasta.

175,505 24.6/5 for 22 ratings

Last modified on: May 12^th 2017

For 300 g, you will need:

1 150 g pine nuts
2 1 garlic clove
3 3 bunches basil
4 1 lemon
5 4 tablespoons olive oil
6 100 g Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan)
7 5 tablespoons olive oil
8 salt
9 pepper
10 4 pinches vitamin C (optional)
Total weight: 555 grams

Change those ingredients for: 100 g 150 g 300 g 600 g 900 g

Change measures: Metric

Metric weight Metric volumes

How long does it take?

Time required for this recipe:

Preparation	Cooking	Start to finish
17 min.	5 min.	22 min.

Keeping: Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.

At what time?

When will I finish if I start the recipe at a certain time?
When should I start for the recipe to be ready at a certain time?

Work this out...

Step by step recipe

Stage 1 - 5 min.

Put 150 g pine nuts in a pan without any oil. Dry roast briefly over high heat, stirring frequently.

Set aside.

Stage 2 - 10 min.

Peel 1 garlic clove, remove the green shoot and chop. Pick the leaves off the 3 bunches basil.

Stage 3 - 2 min.

Pour the juice of 1 lemon and 4 tablespoons olive oil in a blender (always the liquid part in first), then add pine nuts, garlic, basil, 100 g Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan) grated, salt and pepper.

Stage 4 - 5 min.

Blend, adding a thin stream of olive oil gradually until it produces a fairly thick paste, something like the consistency of jam.

Your pesto is ready. If you are not going to use it right away, put it in a sealed jar in the fridge, where it will keep for several days.

Stage 5

Appreciate pesto at its best on plain pasta, with a few shavings of Parmesan: a pure delight.

Remarks

In this recipe the proportions are not all that important, so you can vary them (a little more, a little less) according to your taste. If you are fond of garlic, for example, you can double the quantity indicated.

It's not absolutely necessary to roast the pine nuts, but I find that it gives the pesto a richer flavour.

If you don't have any pine nuts, you can use walnuts instead.

Nutritional information

Whole recipe
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
2,701 Kcal or 11,309 Kj	63 gr	44 gr	253 gr
135 %	24 %	4 %	38 %

Per 100 g
Energetic value	Proteins	Carbohydrates	Fats
487 Kcal or 2,039 Kj	11 gr	8 gr	46 gr
24 %	4 %	1 %	7 %

% are calculated relative to a Recommended Dietary Intake or RDI of 2000 k-calories or 8400 k-joules by day for a woman (change to a man).

How much will it cost?

For 300 g : 13.13 €

Note : These prices are only approximate

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Some recipes that use this recipe

Italian toast

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This is a novel way to cook an egg in the middle of a slice of fried bread. For a continental twist to the English breakfast, it comes with a slice of grilled bacon and a little pesto. The tricky part (explained in full in the recipe) is to cook the egg white through but keep the yolk runny.
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Tomato feuilleté with pesto

This is a fairly simple recipe, but the result is an elegant, thin tart, bursting with delicious Italian colour. The base is a a feuilletage, but savoury this time, topped with the concentrated flavours of Italian cuisine: pesto, tomatoes and Parmesan.
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See all recipes that use it

Source

Home made.

More recipes?

This recipe uses (among others)

	Pine nuts: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Crunchy salad, Spinach and ricotta ravioli, ... All
	Parmigiano reggiano (Parmesan): You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Gratin of purple artichokes, Spaghetti Carbonara, Tomato foccacia, Pesto crackers, Broad bean salad with Parmesan, ... All
	Olive oil: You can get more informations, or check-out other recipes which use it, for example: Baby spinach salad, Potato wallets, Beetroot and fried chicken salad, Leek and artichoke tart à la piémontaise, Guacamole, ... All
	Basil: You can check-out other recipes which use it, like for example: Pan bagnat, Tomato pesto, Fine multi-tomato tart, Quick flaky pizza, Canapés of red mullet with poppy seeds, ... All

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Your 2 comments or questions on this recipe

Very good idea for my next pasta party at home. Grazie Mille !
Posted by jh november 20^th 2010 at 15:22 (n° 2)
I love the old classics! As a serving I agree with you: plain pasta is the best. If you want to try something easy and different, add pesto to a normal tomato souce and you have "sugo pasticciato". In that case I would probably not put the lemon. Buon Appetito! http://gemma-olivia.blogspot.com/
Posted by marcovasce november 15^th 2010 at 13:38 (n° 1)

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