Recipe: Pesto Linguine

Here's another so-easy-it-isn't-really-a-recipe recipe. This is really just an excuse to show off my crop! Look at all that basil!

My pot of basil has been needing a good harvest so I finally decided to make some pesto yesterday. I was able to fill this big bowl with just the larger leaves; I'd guess it was a bit more than 2 cups, packed. See? Here I am pushing down on the leaves - the bowl is PACKED!

So much delicious, sweet smelling basil!

So I gathered my basil and some pine nuts:

Finely grated Parmesan cheese:

Chopped garlic:

Measured some olive oil:

And finally chose some fancy pink sea salt & pepper for seasoning:

Since my blender isn't so powerful, I used my mortar & pestle to grind them up first:

With all that ready, it was time to blend myself some flavour!

Pesto Linguine

Ingredients:

2 cups, packed, fresh basil leaves, rinsed

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup finely grated Parmesan

1/3 cup olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced

salt & pepper to taste

linguine

Methods:

1. Blend basil, pine nuts, cheese, garlic & oil to desired consistency. Add more oil if necessary. Add salt & pepper to taste.

Put it in a jar in the fridge - it should keep up to 2 weeks, though I doubt it'll last that long! I let the flavours meld for a few hours before I made my pasta. The measures above made about a cup of pesto for me:

2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Once done, scoop up a mug of the boiling water before draining.

3. Place pasta back in cooking pot or in a big serving bowl. Mix in desired amount of pesto, starting with a little & tasting between additions, using the reserved water to thin the sauce.

Enjoy!

I made 1/3 of a package of linguine & used about 3 tbsp of pesto, a fairly mild sauce. I could've certainly added a lot more pesto, but I like it light better. While this was absolutely delicious, I would add a bit of butter next time (& in my leftovers) to bring it over the edge into something you would choose over eating at a restaurant!

Think you only like pasta with tomato sauce? Give pesto a chance, you might be surprised! Besides, there are many more things you can do with pesto - it adds a ton of fresh flavour to plenty of different dishes! Head on over to The Pioneer Woman's cooking blog for some more ideas in this post.

What's your favourite way to eat pesto?