Garden fresh basil pesto because what’s summer without it?
{Pictured: Genovese Red Freddy Basil}
We’ve been down this pesto road before. I kicked off the Garden to Table Series with this delicious spinach pesto, but my summer wouldn’t be complete unless basil pesto made its debut here on the blog.
Plus, what else are you going to smear on EVERYTHING?
There are many color variations to making pesto the most common color is bright green. What you see on display is a dark green pesto with purple flecks throughout that’s because I grew purple basil this year. Yay! 🙂 It has a combination of both green and purple leaves that makes it so striking in color and robust in flavor.
Let’s make some pesto, shall we?!
*  *. *
Pesto has four core ingredients:
- Basil
- Pine nuts
- Garlic
- Cheese (Hold the cheese, please!)
To make this less than 10 minutes pesto, you’ll need a food processor or you can use a mortar and pestle. I prefer the first option, but if you have time on your hands use the mortar and pestle. Do you.
First, toast up your pine nuts to get them all toasty and stuff…
Next, firmly combine all ingredients into the food processor or mortar. 🙂
Then, process until smooth you can add additional avocado oil to achieve your desired consistency.
Give it a taste. Make the necessary adjustments, cracked black pepper would be an excellent addition. I’m just saying.
Let the eating begin!
This savory, dark green, nutty, garlicky robust pesto is beautifully greenish with purple flecks of basil that tastes like SUMMER! It’s extremely aromatic with scents of peppery notes throughout.
The MANY ways to enjoy your pesto:
- Smear it on sandwiches.
- Add it to your break-fast Chayote hash or your Avocado Leek Mushroom Toast.
- Replace your pizza sauce. MMMMM!
- Eat it over pasta. CLASSIC!
- Topping for veggies.
- Use it as a salad dressing.
- Add to your yellow stuffed peppers.
- Make Pesto potatoes. Stay tuned post coming soon.
Enjoy!
HOW TO MAKE GARDEN FRESH BASIL PESTO
- 1½ cups of firmly packed fresh purple basil leaves
- ½ cup of toasted pine nuts
- ⅓ cup of avocado oil
- 3 cloves of garlic peeled
- ¼ teaspoon of pink salt
- Cracked black pepper to taste
- 1 Tablespoon of avocado oil to toast pine nuts
- In a skillet heat oil over medium-high heat. Once warm, add pine nuts to oil toast for 5 minutes until browning.
- In a food processor, firmly combine all ingredients.
- Process until smooth
- Add additional avocado oil to achieve desired consistency
Refrigerate up to 3 days
Freeze up to 3 months (Stay tuned, post coming on how I preserve our basil pesto)
This post contains an affiliate link for the mortar and pestle that I own and use when I have time on my hands. 🙂
2 Comments
David @ Spiced
Purple basil? That’s awesome! We grow basil every year, but I’ve always grown the traditional variety. Now you’ve inspired me to try the purple version next year. Either way, a good pesto is hard to beat! We make ours in huge batches and then freeze it in ice cube trays for use later. Thanks for sharing your version!
Tonya
Yes, purple basil is a thing. Stay tuned, I have a “How To Freeze Garden Pesto” post coming soon!