Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Basil - Walnut Pesto




Here is a recipe for Basil walnut pesto which I had bookmarked long back from Food.com
I needed pesto to make a Mediterranean pizza which I ended up making this past weekend.
Usually pesto is made with pine nuts, but I don't buy much pine nuts and so instead I needed a recipe in which I could use something which I had at home. I found this easy recipe and it came out awesome. I made it using walnuts, which usually are there in my pantry and who can say no to walnuts? They are rich in good fats and very good for you. They come under the category of foods which have good omega fatty acids.

So here is the recipe from Food.com. I made it exactly the same with no changes. It tasted awesome on the Mediterranean pizza, which I will post soon.
You can use a food processor or a blender to make this.

Ingredients:

2 cup basil leaves, chopped
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp softened butter (optional, but using it makes it creamy and smooth)
1/2 tsp salt

Method:

Blend together the basil leaves, olive oil, walnuts and garlic, till smooth.
Add salt, Parmesan cheese and butter and blend further till smooth, about 10 seconds.
The pesto is ready. Use it in your favorite dishes. For use with pasta, add couple of tbsp of hot pasta water, so that it will blend nicely with the pasta.
Enjoy!!!



Sending this to Aipi's Bookmarked event - Every Tuesday

28 comments:

  1. I've never seen a pesto recipe that calls for butter. Now I'm intrigued and will have to give this a shot to find out what happens. Smoother, did you say?

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  2. Wow...shud have tasted great with the butter flavour in it...

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  3. Such a lovely pic, very tempting too…looks mouthwatering

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  4. The Pesto looks beautiful. Like it that it has walnuts, easily available here.

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  5. Yummy- I always make my pestos with walnuts never added butter though..must have given a nice creamy- buttery texture!
    Thanks a lot for linking this to bookmark event :)

    US Masala

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  6. Smitha, it's good that u r trying ur hands on different cuisine..asusual ..u rock

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  7. wow so new to me !! Loved the color !! and it Looks so creamy !!

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  8. Pesto looks pretty and creamy too.

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  9. i'm not a nut person but the colour wants me to give it a try!

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  10. Would love to have this beautiful and flavourful pesto with pastas,soooo delicious..

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  11. pasta is full of flavour......shd be yummy

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  12. nice recipe, its really versatile to use.

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  13. Love the preparation..I am sure we will love to have this pesto in pasta!! shall keep this recipe handy :)

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  14. Pesto looks very flavorful..First time to your blog...glad to follow you...

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  15. looks so beautiful..loving the green :-)

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  16. That is one rich and creamy looking pesto..awesome

    Aaha Oho

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  17. Looks so rich and yummy! Never tasted before!

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  18. Beautiful pesto. Sounds delicious also. Thanks for sharing.

    Hamsamalini Chandrasekaran,
    http://indianyummykitchen.blogspot.com

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  19. wow.. what a beautiful green color!! loved the your recipe for pesto!!!

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  20. wow! love this.. and the color too.. going to try this out soon :)

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