Here’s a super-easy recipe for fresh delicious homemade basil pesto. Even if you’ve never ever made pesto before. Even if you’re not Italian. You won’t even need a food processor. We’re going to make pesto just like an Italian Grandmother, by hand. Gather-up these fresh ingredients: gorgeous green basil, pine nuts, Parmesan cheese and garlic. I hope you’re as thrilled with this hand-crafted pesto as I am. I LOVE it!

Mangiare!

This is all that’s left of my basil plant…

Start chopping, I love this knife. Fabulous.

Chop and add the ingredients a little at a time…

Ingredients:

• 1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
• 3 medium cloves of garlic
• One small handful of toasted pine nuts
• 1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Method:

1. Mince the garlic along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is coarsely chopped, add more basil, chop more, add all of the basil, and chop some more. Using your knife, scrape together and chop, gather more and chop. Mince the basil and garlic very fine.
2. Add about half the pine nuts, chop. Add the rest of the pine nuts, chop some more. Add half of the Parmesan, chop. Add the rest of the Parmesan, and chop again.
3. You’ll want a mixture so fine that it holds together nicely, so that you can press it all into a “cake” – (see photo above).
4. Place the formed pesto cake in a small bowl. Drizzle with a few tablespoons of olive oil.

When you’re finished chopping and mixing. Place in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.

Toss a little (or a lot) of your fresh homemade pesto in some pasta. Pour a glass of wine. Call some friends to come over. You’re about to become even more popular!

Mangiare! (Enjoy your food!)