This pesto recipe is from the BBC Good Food Network. I’ve now made it, on request, several times, and it’s so much better than shop bought pesto, taking about 15 minutes, that I suggest you give it a try.Pesto works with so many things (if you can hold back from eating it by the spoonful or scraping out the bowl), with pasta, with chicken, with courgetti (more about that in a moment). Turning simple quick meals into feasts.
A couple of things about pesto:
Keep it well sealed with a little olive oil on top and it will keep for a few weeks in the fridge.
Pesto will freeze but don’t leave it in the freezer for more than a month.
Here’s what you’ll need for one pot.
80g basil (I buy Majestic basil leaves from Waitrose)
50g pine nuts
50g parmesan (I use Essential Grated Parmesan from Waitrose)
2 cloves of garlic (some people toast the garlic as well – I haven’t tried that yet)
150ml best olive oil
Salt to taste
Strip the basil leaves from the stems – the 80g is without stems
Toast the pine nuts until they start to brown – I use a flat non stick pan like this one
Take the skins off the garlic
Place all the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth. It’s at this stage you’ll want to start tasting – just warning you. And you’re done.
Courgetti – my daughter decided we would have Courgetti with pesto the other evening. It was my first taste and it was absolutely delicious.
Low carb spaghetti – I was late catching up on the craze for this one but now I’m addicted to it. She used cucumber and courgette by the way. All you need, other than the veg, is a Spiralizer, and if you like low carb and don’t already have one you should buy one quickly. Anything that adds interest to low carb meals has to be worth having.
Here’s the recipe for Deliciously Ella’s minted courgetti with pesto.
