The Pesto Blueprint.

I love pesto.  It is unbelievably easy to make, the ingredients are pretty flexible and it makes thousands of delicious meals.  For example, add some cream and pour over a salad, mix it in with pasta, stuff it into chicken breasts, add it to an omelette, spread it in a sarnie, dollop it on top of lamb steaks or drizzle over roasted vegetables.  Indeed, if you serve pasta with 'Homemade Thai Sweet Basil and Toasted Almond Pesto' your guests will be salivating while you only had to spend 10 minutes in the kitchen.   It truly is wonderful stuff.

Ingredients

1 handful nuts (walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, or whatever you have lying around)

3 handfuls herbs (basil, mint, coriander, parsley, or a combination)

1 handful parmesan cheese

Olive oil

1 lemon, juice and zest

3 garlic cloves, crushed    

Salt and pepper

Method

1. The first thing to do is think about how you like your pesto.  Do you like it very garlicky? Herby? Cheesy?

2. Once you have decided amend the recipe to increase or decrease the amounts given.  

3. Put all the dry ingredients into a blender and blitz.  Slowly add olive oil until you have a thick dolloping sauce.

4. Put in a designated ‘pesto pot’, top with some olive oil and keep in the fridge for as long as it will last (which won’t be long).

Deeeeelicious.