Homemade Walnut Pesto!!!!!

Throughout the year, we have been growing basil on our balcony but have not been doing a very good job of consuming it.  The amount of basil we had was not proportionate to the time we had to eat it before winter which lead to making Walnut Pesto!!! I can not take credit for the idea of making pesto with our exuberant amount of basil, that was all the idea of my mother-in-law.  I had originally thought we could dry the basil with the food dehydrator, but pesto sounded much more delightful!

I found the recipe below via foodgawker.com, but it comes from a blog called Cookie + Kate which turned out to be a delightful food blog that I plan to visit more often. Food Blogs make my life, or atleast a small portion of my life, complete =)

I decided to make walnut pesto instead of the traditional pine nut pesto for two main reasons:

1. Pine nuts are more expensive than walnuts
2. Some pine nuts can leave a bitter taste in your mouth called 'Pine Mouth' and I didn't want to run the risk of using a bad batch of pine nuts in our mass produced batch of pesto!

WALNUT PESTO:

Ingredients:

• 3 lightly packed cups of basil, washed
• 3 medium garlic cloves, peeled 
• 3/4 Cups of walnuts, lightly toasted
• 3/4 Cups of olive oil (if you prefer thinner pesto, add more, but this is plenty in my mind!)
• Salt, to taste
• Lemon Juice (optional, but the approx. teaspoon I used added great flavor!)

Instructions:

Step 1: Toast walnuts over med-hi heat, until fragrant

1. Toast the walnuts over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 3-5 minutes
2. In a food processor, combine basil, walnuts and garlic cloves
3. Drizzle olive oil into food processor while pulsing other ingredients
4. Transfer mix from food processor to bowl.  Add salt and lemon to taste.
5. Transfer to lidded bowl for storage in the fridge, or if you plan to freeze some, transfer to multiple containers for storage in the freezer  

Step 2: Combine basil, walnuts and garlic in food processor

Place pesto in container(s) for storage in fridge and/or freezer

The pesto tasted delicious when we made it, although I have yet to use it in any recipes as of now.  I recently made scrambled eggs with some pesto mixed in which was delicious and it always makes for a flavorful condiment on sandwiches.  Or you can always go the more traditional route of using it in your favorite pasta dish! Keep a look out and I will try to post some recipes including pesto soon!

Bon Appetit!