Favourite Pesto Recipe

A hot first couple of weeks of March (next week in Sydney will be in the mid 30s) has meant summer garden produce continues to kick on.

In my fridge I’ve got 4 jars of sweet and hot chilli sauce, 3 jars of chilli and tomato chutney and 2 jars of pickled chilli slices.

The key to a good home harvest is harvesting. It reduces the risk of pest attack. You don’t want your sweet basil to flower, but you do want your cherry tomatoes to flower.

Today was basil harvest.

Just two plants in one pot has kept me going since November.

I’ve pestoed lots of times. This one isn’t exactly authentic, but it’s the recipe I like the most.

The following yields about 300ml or 260g

Ingredients

• 100g basil leaves, about 2 cups packed 
• 40g pine nuts, about 1/4 cup, lightly toasted
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and lightly browned
• 1 green chilli
• 25g, about 1/3 cup, fresh grated parmesan cheese
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• .5 teaspoon white pepper
• 1 lime, juiced

Method

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Toast pine nuts and garlic cloves until golden, tossing occasionally in the pan. Add the pine nuts to the bowl of your food processor along with all the other ingredients

Run the processor until you achieve and even, slightly coarse paste. You will need to pause a couple of times and adjust the contents with a spatula.

Yields about 260g pesto, about 300ml

Storage: this pesto can be stored in a sterilised, air tight jar and refrigerated for a couple of weeks.