Pesto Recipe

Everyone raves about my pesto, always wanting the recipe, so here it is- the exact recipe. It’s one of the few times, other than baking, I use an exact recipe.

First, I plant LOTS of basil in the spring- at least 12 plants.

Next, we wait until it grows enough to harvest. We always hope for about 3 harvests per year.

Finally, it’s time to harvest and make pesto!

I go to Sam’s to buy all of my additional ingredients in bulk. Yes, we make that much! It’s our goal to make at least 12 pints, plus enough for gifts.

Ingredients, which I buy from Sam’s: 

big bag of Walnuts, 2 lb bag of Pecorino Romano grated cheese, 24 oz. container of shredded Parmesan, 3 lb container of Garlic (we use lots of garlic for lots of things)

Additional ingredient: salt

I mix everything up in my Blendtec blender. After many trial and errors, I have finally figured out the perfect order to put ingredients in the blender for the best blending. Basically this magical order to perfect blending is oil/walnuts, basil, cheeses/garlic/salt. If you’re wondering, yes, I’m a Virgo.

1 C. Olive Oil

2/3 C. Walnuts

4 C Basil

1/2 C. Parmesan

1/2 C. Pecorino Romano

4-6 garlic cloves

Salt to taste- approx. 1 t

Blend on the “sauces/dips” setting. Makes 1 pint. We freeze ours in glass pint jars we’ve either saved or glass canning jars.