Basic Pesto Sauce Ratio & Countless Different Pesto Recipes
At this point, I’m pretty confident that you’ve had the gorgeous green basil-nut-garlic-and-cheese spread known as pesto. In this recipe post, I tackle the Basic Pesto Ratio so that you can make any number of Different Pesto Recipes, including pesto without basil and pesto without pine nuts. Variety is the spice of life, don’t you think??
Servings: 12
Calories: 241kcal
Equipment
- Air tight container for storing
Ingredients
- 2 Garlic Cloves
- ⅓ Cup Pistachios or any nut, shelled & toasted for 5 minutes at 350°F
- 1 Lemon juiced
- 4 Cups Fresh Basil or alternate greens of your choosing
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- ½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- ½ Cup Parmesean
Instructions
- Place your clove of garlic in the food processor; pulse until finely chopped.2 Garlic Cloves
- Add the toasted pistachios, lemon juice, basil, and salt; pulse until nuts are finely chopped and ingredients are well blended.⅓ Cup Pistachios, 4 Cups Fresh Basil, 1 Lemon, Salt and Pepper to taste
- Add olive oil gradually and process until the mixture is well combined.½ Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Finally, add parmesan and pulse 2 or 3 times. Voila! Pistachio Pesto.½ Cup Parmesean
Video
Notes
Expert Tips
Homemade pesto is pretty simple to pull off. Here are some of my best tips for ensuring that your experience is as painless as possible:
- Wilted is okay, rotting is not. I love using up whatever bits and bobs of herbs and greens I have in my crisper drawer at the end of the week to make different pesto variations. If your greens are a little wilty or saggy, they’ll be perfect! If, however, they are releasing juices and starting to rot, they’re unfortunately better suited for the compost pile.
- Stems are great if they’re tender! Don’t feel like you have to cut off the stems of your cilantro, parsley or spinach for making homemade pesto. So long as they are tender and not woody, stems are perfectly welcome in the batch.
- Pulse over process. To get a bit of texture in your pesto, I suggest pulsing the ingredients rather than whizzing them to oblivion. However, you’ll need to…
- Process to emulsify. If you don’t want your pesto to split, you’ll need to do a bit of emulsification. Make sure the processor is running while you drizzle in your oil to ensure that the ingredients meld well.
- Top with a layer of oil. If you aren’t going to use your pesto right away, you’re going to need to prevent oxidization from ruining the batch. The name of the game here is keeping air away from the greens. Spread your leftover pesto into a container, making sure all sides are touching the container. Then, cover the pesto with a thin layer of oil - whatever kind you used to make the pesto will do great! When you’re ready to serve the leftovers, either stir the oil in for a thinner sauce or simply pour off the excess.
- Storing. If stored in the fridge with a thin layer of oil to prevent oxidization, homemade pesto should last for about 5 days. If you want to store it for longer, I suggest freezing it into ice cube trays. Since pesto is quite pungent, I find that a cube or two is usually enough to dress up any meal. After they have frozen solid, the cubes can be popped into a zip-top bag and frozen for up to 6 months!
- Please note that your ice cube trays will have a lingering taste of garlic if you use this method. I suggest keeping a separate tray for freezing anything with pungent aromatics, as plastic is quite porous and will tend to keep the flavor.
Nutrition
Calories: 241kcal | Carbohydrates: 5g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 23g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 6mg | Sodium: 135mg | Potassium: 154mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 941IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 141mg | Iron: 1mg
