How to make pesto one hundred ways and why you should.
12/5/2017
Pesto love…
Making pesto is one of my life long strategies for helping make the world a better place. Wielding only a blender, I declare “I am not a food waster! I am a happiness maker!” Making pesto is a small but purposeful step toward hugging the planet, myself, my friends and family.
Pesto is a serious topic for two reasons. First, I love pesto. It’s on my list of essential foods. It shares that space with avocados, grapefruit, 15 grain bread with extra seeds, pizza from 5 Points Pizza in Nashville, curried anything, nuts and deep dark chocolate. I put it in pasta, spread it on toast, layer it with mozzarella and tomato slices on crostini, scoop it with crackers, and use it as a condiment for any sandwich.
Second, I hate wasting food. Not wasting greens sometimes is a challenge. Greens simply don’t last very long and they aren’t a suitable candidate for freezing, canning, or drying. I think I would feel really lofty and healthy if I could say greens never go to waste at my house because I always eat salad…but I don’t. I mean, I do eat salad and its ok, but I don’t love salad. Definitely not as much as pesto.
Traditional pesto is basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, pine nuts, garlic and salt. For years I thought of pesto as a summer thing, when fresh basil is plentiful. Even in Tennessee where we have a long growing season, basil is such a tender plant, it doesn’t survive past the first cold night. Adding insult to injury, I’ve had to make successive plantings the last couple of years because I have some basil plant mildew killing thing going on.
In this pesto story, tradition is not required. Perhaps not even desired. I would never diminish the importance of food tradition when it comes to using pineapple in pineapple upside down cake or tomatoes in marinara, but for pesto, basil is not required. Pine nuts are not required. If you’re vegan or dairy free, Parmesan cheese is not required. Nutritional yeast can sub in. I would say garlic is required, but you can use fresh or jarred; don’t let anybody say you can’t. I wouldn’t necessarily recommend a substitution for olive oil or salt, but go ahead, play around.
Pesto glory. Here’s how I make it.
In the blender, add:
- olive oil, a small pour — I would guess it at about 1/4 cup.
- garlic — I use 2–3 big fresh cloves unless I’m out, then I use about 2 T. of minced jarred garlic which I always keep in the fridg as back up. Beware, this will be garlicky. Yum.
- salt — I use too much, 1–2 t. sea salt…I love salt.
- Parmesan cheese, grated, about 1/4 cup. This is where you can also use nutritional yeast in about the same quantity if you’re vegan or dairy free.
- Nuts. Any kind. I tend to use walnuts but if I’m out I’ve used almonds*, cashews, mixed nuts, whatever. Pine nuts are great, but they’re so expensive. I throw in a handful, maybe 1/3 cup?
- Greens. I fill the blender with greens, not a hard pack but I do push them down once or twice to get enough in there. I have made pesto with basil, spinach, mixed greens, kale, mustard or other stronger greens. I’m a huge fan of all spinach pesto but not of pure stronger greens. If I’m using kale or mustard or similar, I prefer them about half and half with spinach or basil or combination of all. Baby kale better texturally (to me) than big kale. Watery greens like most lettuces don’t work well…they disintegrate and taste very wet and lettuce-y. That said, I have used mixed Spring greens in combination with sturdier greens and they’ve worked out well.
The point is, there are few pesto rules. You may want more or less oil, more or less garlic, more or less salt…cheese…nuts. Play with it til you achieve pesto happiness.
Remember: Peace. Love. Pesto.
