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Pesto tips?

lorrpb
lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
edited November 2024 in Recipes
Believe it or not, I've never made pesto. I bought a bunch of basil at the store and will make some this weekend. Any tips or favorite variations?

Replies

  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,794 Member
    edited July 2017
    I love the traditional basil and pine nut variety! The quality of olive oil you use can have a big impact on taste, so keep that in mind.

    Oh, I do like to add red pepper flakes, too.
  • buffalogal42
    buffalogal42 Posts: 374 Member
    I just made pesto for the first time because I desperately wanted to use my cool mortar and pestle. Lol

    What I discovered was I spent a whole bunch more on ingredients than buying the jar at the store and it didn't taste as good. But I am a pretty lousy cook, so ....

    Good luck!
  • HeidiCooksSupper
    HeidiCooksSupper Posts: 3,832 Member
    If you are using extra virgin olive oil and a blender or food processor, be careful not to over process. Really beating up the olive oil makes it bitter. The cheaper "pure" olive oil is less likely to have this problem.

    We live next door to "the basil fairy." Our next door neighbor puts a couple of big pots of basil plants along our front walk every year and we spend the summer harvesting it a few leaves at a time for fresh basil in our food. I used to try to make pesto out of it but found that I wasn't very successful at making anything that tasted like much once it was frozen. So now we just eat a lot of it while the plants are still producing new leaves. Late in the season, here, with our unceasingly hot southern weather, the basil gets bitter and we return the pots to our wonderful neighbor with profuse thanks!
  • jayemes
    jayemes Posts: 865 Member
    I didn't have pine nuts so I used walnuts and some lemon zest. It was delicious!
  • finny11122
    finny11122 Posts: 8,436 Member
    Pesto rosso is my favourite . Give it a go with some grated Parmesan on penne pasta
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    finny11122 wrote: »
    Pesto rosso is my favourite . Give it a go with some grated Parmesan on penne pasta

    What is Rosso?
  • finny11122
    finny11122 Posts: 8,436 Member
    Its just red pesto . It's tomato based .
  • CattOfTheGarage
    CattOfTheGarage Posts: 2,745 Member
    edited July 2017
    Not relevant to your basil mountain, but I made a sort of pesto thing once by whizzing up frozen peas and mixing with grated cheddar. It worked well on pasta.

    ETA just to clarify, I did thaw the peas first. We called it peasto.
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