Simple Garlic and Basil Pesto

I love this! This is now my favorite pesto recipe to put up for the year. To keep pesto; freeze in an ice cube tray, then pop out and store in a ziplock bag in the freezer. Each ice cube is about an 1/4 cup. This is fantastic for my grilled pesto chicken.

I had a ton of basil that I needed to use up. It doesn't tolerate cold at all, so it's streching it to keep it into October in Minnesota. I was struggling to choose a recipe, so I decided to try three different pesto recipes from this site. In A-typical allrecipes fashion I actually stuck exactly to each recipe so that we could truly judge them fairly. The recipes were Easy Pesto by Rebecca Jane Thompson, Pesto Sauce by Sara, and Simple Garlic and Basil Pesto by FuzzyGreenMonkey. My favorite was Easy Pesto. It had a nice nutty flavor because of the toasted almonds. It's also nice if you don't have much basil on hand because it uses half as much as the other recipes. My husband liked Simple Garlic and Basil Pesto the best, it was my close second. The parmesan cheese and pine nuts really make that recipe. We both agreed that by far our least favorite was Pesto Sauce. It was very bland compared to the other two. I would attribute that to the 1 1/2 cups of walnuts. I would not recommend that recipe at all. It was a fun experiment and the other two recipes will go into my permanant file.

Ditch the chilli power, it just takes away from the flavor. Toast your pine nuts first, then chop them all in your food processer a bit, but not too much as you want texture. I somtimes use walnuts instead of pine nuts, also never use brazil nuts. Can't tell the difference. Most any type of hard oily nut will work.

Due to a big basil sale at the farmers' market this summer and our market had grated parmesean on sale too the same week, my husband and I were called to task for Pesto! Especially, after his mom gave us about a dozen heads of Italian Red garlic (home grown). About 12 cups of this pesto by the end. We love it so much! We didn't have the brasil nuts when we made it during summer (added more pine nuts), but we will this summer. We added just a pinch of crushed red with the chili powder, and maybe a tiny bit less oil. SO YUMMY! I look forward to the sale this coming summer, as our frozen stock of pesto is running out!! Yes, this does freeze well, but be sure to freeze in small containers or plastic bags, not a giant 2 qt thing I did the first time, then had to thaw and refreeze. Also, we might a bit of lemon juice next time to help preserve the color, but that's because we are big "make and freeze" fans around thse parts. =)

This is perfect. I've already made 8 batches! The chili powder is such a great addition, adding zip but no noticeable flavor. (try adding a few dashes to a tiny spoonful if you're reticent; you'll see!) Less oil has worked fine as well, as well as fewer pine nuts when I was short. I haven't yet, however, used the Brazil nuts. ***TIP: I have heard that pesto should not be frozen with the cheese in it; it makes one of the ingredients rancid. Freeze and add cheese later.***

This was so quick and easy to make. Taste and consistancy was fantastic. I used pecorino cheese instead of the parmesan!!

I made a half a batch of this because my basils are just babies. I omitted the brazilian nuts because I don't have any. Wonderful flavor!!!!

A good basic recipe - I added some crushed red pepper in place of chili powder. Also i recommend roasting the pine nuts first, and adding a bit of salt. But DO NOT put this in a blender - it will taste like pureed grass. Chop it fine or use a mortar and pestle - it is worth the extra work.

I added some seasoned salt and red pepper flakes as I blended. Very easy to make and a great way to clear out my basil plant, which is going crazy this year. I also toasted the pine nuts first (roll around in a very hot pan until lightly browned on some but not all sides) - intensifies the nutty flavor. Delicious!

Fantastic! I warmed it and added some heavy cream and served it over gnocchi and it was scrumptious.