Ingredients: |
Ingredients: 1/2 c. almonds, pine nuts or walnuts (or a mixture)
2 cloves garlic, peeled 2 c. fresh basil leaves, washed, dried, packed 3/4 c. fresh parsley, washed, dried, packed
3/4 c. freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/8 to 1/4 c. olive oil and 1/4 c. peanut or grapeseed oil
1/4 c. melted unsalted butter salt (optional) Fruit Freshİ and olive oil
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Directions: |
Directions:Pulse the almonds in a food processor. Work into a coarse paste but leave some crunch to the almonds. Then add the other ingredients and process to the consistency you like. Add some Fruit Fresh to keep the color bright.
Pesto lends itself to variations, thus the continual quest for a new and better recipe. Refrigerate or freeze in 4 oz. canning jars with some extra Fruit Fresh sprinkled on the top, followed by a thin layer of olive oil. Each time you use some from the jar, repeat the Fruit Fresh and thin layer of oil before refrigerating or freezing again.
You can freeze it without the cheese, then add the cheese later, when you use the pesto.
Toss with hot, drained pasta or spoon onto hot gnocchi. We like it spread thinly with tomato sauce on a pizza crust, sprinkled with chopped sweet red pepper and finely grated cheeses and baked in a hot oven. You could add chopped, seeded, peeled tomatoes, olives, mushrooms, sausage, pepperoni.
I prefer almonds (blanched or not) and they are much less expensive than pine nuts, the traditional pesto ingredient. |