Pesto


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.
290 K 4.6/5 (24 reviews)
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Last modified on: July 25th 2020
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For 300 g, you will need:

Change these quantities to make:
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Times for this recipe
Preparation: 10 min.
Cooking: 5 min.
All in all: 15 min.

Step by step recipe


Stage 1 - ⌛ 5 min.
Pesto : Stage 1
Put 150 g pine nuts in a pan without any oil. Dry roast briefly over high heat, stirring frequently.

Set aside.

Stage 2 - ⌛ 5 min.
Pesto : Stage 2
Peel 1 garlic clove, remove the green shoot and chop.

Pick the leaves off the 3 bunches Basil.

Stage 3 - ⌛ 2 min.
Pesto : Stage 3
Pour the juice of 1 lemon, zest, 4 tablespoons olive oil and 2 g vitamin C on the leaves.

Stage 4 - ⌛ 1 min.
Pesto : Stage 4
Mix to get a basil puree.

Stage 5 - ⌛ 1 min.
Pesto : Stage 5
Add pine nuts, garlic, 100 g Parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) grated, 5 tablespoons olive oil salt and pepper...

Stage 6 - ⌛ 1 min.
Pesto : Stage 6
... and mix again until you obtain the texture of a thick puree.

Do not hesitate to adapt the quantity of olive oil, more or less, the important thing is to obtain the desired texture.


Stage 8
Pesto : Stage 8
Store in the fridge in a closed jar.
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.

The basil which gives the green color tends to oxidize easily, and therefore lose this beautiful color. To keep it better, add, before blending, the vitamin c.
Keeping: Several days in the fridge, in a closed jar.
Source: Home made.
Nutritional information
Proteins (gr)Carbohydrates (gr)Fats (gr)Energy value (in k-calories)Energy value (in k-joules)
Whole recipe60 RDI=20 %40 RDI=4 %250 RDI=40 %2,700 RDI=140 %11,310 RDI: 140 %
Per 100 g10 RDI=4 %7 RDI=1 %50 RDI=7 %490 RDI=20 %2,040 RDI: 20 %
The % figures are calculated in relation to the Recommended Dietary Intake , or RDI of 2,000 k-calories (or 8,400 k-joules) per day for a woman
Possible allergens in this recipe: milk
How much will it cost?
  • For 300 g : 13.15 €

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Note: Be careful, these prices are only an estimate, you can consult the table of prices by ingredients used for this estimate.
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The 2 comments already posted on this recipe
  • Very good idea for my next pasta party at home. Grazie Mille !
    Posted by jh november 20th 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 15th 2010 at 13:38 n° 1

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