Pesto and Pistou
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Ingredients
- 1 or 2garlic cloves, to taste
- 2cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed 2 ounces
- 2tablespoons Mediterranean pine nuts* (for pesto; omit for pistou)
- Salt
- freshly ground pepper to taste
- ⅓cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓cup (1½ ounces) freshly grated Parmesan, or a mixture of pecorino Romano and Parmesan more to taste
Nutritional analysis per serving (1.1666666666666665 servings)
800 calories; 81 grams fat; 16 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 48 grams monounsaturated fat; 7 grams polyunsaturated fat; 6 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 0 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 816 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
If using a hand blender, place the garlic, basil, pine nuts, salt and olive oil in a pint jar. Stick the hand blender right down into the mixture and turn on. Blend until smooth. You may have to start and stop a few times at the beginning, and scrape down the sides of the jar. Once the mixture is smooth, add the cheese and stir or blend together. If using a food processor fitted with the steel blade, turn on and drop in the garlic. When it is chopped and adhering to the sides of the bowl, stop the machine and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the basil, pine nuts, salt, pepper and olive oil to the food processor and process until smooth and creamy. Add the Parmesan and pulse until well combined. If using a mortar and pestle, add the basil leaves a handful at a time and mash with the pestle. Add the pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper, and mash to a paste with the basil. Work in the olive oil and the Parmesan.
Private Notes
Comments
Actually it's much easier to clean a handheld blender. Just rinse it, add a little dish soap, some water, and use the blender to foam up the water in the jar. Boom, you handheld blender is clean, your jar is clean, rinse and let then dry. Done.
For several years now, I have been making pesto using the blender. It is a very unorthodox approach since I start with the oil and the garlic, then I add a little hot pepper flakes, then the pine nuts and finally the basal. I blend after every addition. Check for texture and taste. I usually refrigerate for at least a day and I add the cheese about 30-45 minutes before I am going to use it. If I am going to freeze the presto, I do not add cheese until I thaw and am going to use.
I prefer to use chopped walnuts instead of pine nuts. They're not authentic but they have more bite to them (so better texture; pine nuts are just too soft and buttery) and are a LOT cheaper.
Made a pistou version (sans pine nuts) using a surplus of Thai Towers basil. Followed other readers' suggestions to add lemon juice to preserve color and freeze, but not add peppers/chiles until ready to use. Plan to use in pumpkin curry. The Thai leaves are drier/tougher than Italian basil, so took a little more work with the stick blender but the results are good. I may try lime juice instead of lemon next time; if it freezes well, it will save me shopping trips to get Thai basil.
I make my pesto with this recipe but add a squeeze of lemon. then I freeze it in ice cube trays, pop them out after frozen and put in a freezer bag. Keeps well the whole winter for an easy meal.
I live in the South of France and pistou doesn't have either pine nuts or cheese in it (there's no local cheese that's anything like Parmesan or Pecorino). It's just oil, garlic and basil (and occasionally bread crumbs). Of course that doesn't mean you shouldn't put them in if you want to ...