Cooking with Kitten: How to Make Pesto

In my last post I said that I made my own pesto. Here's how:

Ingredients:

• one or two bunches of fresh basil
• a handful of pine nuts or walnuts (either one will do; walnuts are cheaper and easier to find)
• a handful of good quality grated parmesan cheese
• extra virgin olive oil (for blog purposes I'll write EVOO, not to evoke Rachael Ray)

Directions:

• Loosely pack the basil in a food processor. Add the walnuts and parmesan and pulse until you get a finely chopped mix, verging on a paste.
• While the food processor is still running, SLOWLY add the EVOO in a THIN STREAM. Keep the food processor going until you've got a medium paste.
• You don't want your pesto to be too thick or too runny. You may want to stop the food processor a couple of times if you're not sure about consistency.

Making pesto takes practice. Trust me, I've had to throw batches away of it myself. If you're consistent, you'll make a fine pesto in no time.

Bon appetit!