A Really Nice Pesto Pasta

This basil pesto is heavy on herbs, and light on nuts, for a bright and smooth product that’s great in pasta, on sandwiches, or even straight out of the jar. I’m serving it here with one of my favourite pasta shapes — fusilli!

Equipment

Here’s everything you need to make my basil pesto at home:

• food processor
• large pot
• collander
• chef’s knife
• cutting board

Get the full ingredients list and instructions below!

Cooking Tips

1. If you don’t have a food processor, use a blender or mortar and pestle. For either, work in batches to avoid overcrowding, and start with the larger items, like the garlic and nuts, before moving onto lighter ingredients like the basil, lemon and parmesan. Drizzling the oil in slowly is going to help the whole thing come together into a cohesive sauce, so ask a friend to help, if you need to!
2. Use whatever nuts you have on hand. I’ve made this with pine nuts, cashews and pecans – all were great! My favourite is pine nuts for that authentic Italian, basil pesto flavour, but my second favourite would be cashews! Most importantly, I want you to use what you have on hand, or what fits into your budget this week.
3. IMO nothing beats a simple, warm pesto pasta, but it’s also great in a cold pasta salad with genoa salami, bocconcini and cherry tomatoes. I also love it as a spread on sandwiches! I recently made a focaccia sandwich with this pesto, grilled veggies and ricotta, and it was very good.

A Really Nice Pesto Pasta

Basil pesto that's heavy on herbs and light on nuts.

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 6 minutes mins

Servings: 4

Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• 2 cups basil
• 1/3 cup nuts like pine, cashews, pecans or pistachios
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• salt I'm using Diamond Crystal Kosher
• cracked black pepper

For Pasta

• 400 g pasta like fusilli, bowties or penne

Method

 

1. In a food processor add 1 garlic clove and 1/3 cup nuts. Pulse until finely chopped, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
2. Add in 2 cups basil and continue pulsing until the basil is also finely chopped, about 1 more minute.
3. With the food processor on, slowly drizzle in olive oil until smooth.
4. Add in parmesan, lemon juice, 1/2 tsp salt and a few cracks of black pepper. Pulse until just combined. Taste and adjust seasoning.
5. Toss with cooked pasta, along with a bit of pasta water to loosen the pesto, and serve warm with more parmesan.

Notes

To store, add a layer of olive oil to the top of the pesto and seal in an airtight container. The layer of olive oil on top will prevent the pesto from oxidizing. 

A great way to save time (and reduce dishes!) is to first add parmesan to the food processor and pulse until grated. This way you don’t need to dirty a cheese grater!