Spinach Basil Pesto

 

Presto originally named Pesto Alla Genovese it originated in Genoa a city in Italy. Basil Pesto is the original pesto made all over Italy and what every other pesto is derived from. In our pesto today we are adding some wonderful baby spinach. 

There are so many delicious ways to save any leftover to use later. Freeze the leftover in ice cube trays. This way makes it easy to just pop out what you need. This is so simple you will more than likely start creating your own flavors.

Spinach Pesto Basil

• 1 1/2 cups baby spinach leaves
• 
  3/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano cheese
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled  and quartered
• kosher salt to taste
• fresh ground pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• zest from the lemon
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 
  

The first thing you need to do it roast your pine nuts. This is relatively easy but you need to keep an eye on them. Like a baby in a bath do not leave. I use a small teflon pan with a medium heat. just cook them until they have a brown roasted look. I toss them into a small bowl and let them cool prior to adding them to the blender.

While those pine nuts are cooling get all your ingredients together making the process so easy. I just pop everything into my blender. Use the olive oil sparingly at first use a couple tablespoons of it while blending then adding the remainder towards the end of blending. 

You can use a food processor or any tool that will blend the mixture up for you. I always seem to make more then required for my pasta. And it seems no matter how much I learn about Pesto's I just add a lot to my dish. 

There are many other ways to use this pesto one idea is to baste your fish with a bit  then the last 15 minutes of baking slater it on. 

I used this pesto to cover my tortellini pasta and I chopped up some fresh tomatoes to add to it. It was delicious. 

I know I added to much but the beauty of cooking meals at home is who gives a la la lee 

Enjoy this and get creative and make some of your own flavor Pestos the choices are endless. 

Basil Pesto

Most Pesto's are done in a processor or like me my Magic Bullet. But low and behold after many internet search finally I found the recipe for Old School pesto done so well by Heidi at her 101 Cookbooks site. She has given me the inspiration to go to the next level with my site. But that is another post.  Now it is a bit more time consuming but the results are intense and the flavors are not all mushed together. It is Pesto Heaven

Heidi explains to us that pesto made here in America is machine made this creates a paste like pesto. Hand chopping your ingredients is the way to make real Italian Pesto. I am a hand to tool cook. I use less machine then most in their kitchen. 
 

1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
3 medium cloves of garlic
one small handful of raw pine nuts
roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and FRESHLY GRATED
A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Start chopping the garlic along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is loosely chopped add more basil, chop some more, add the rest of the basil, chop some more. I scrape and chop, gather and chop.

At this point the basil and garlic should be a very fine mince.

Add about half the pine nuts, chop.

Add the rest of the pine nuts, chop.
Add half of the Parmesan, chop.
Add the rest of the Parmesan, and chop.

 

In the end you want a chop so fine that you can press all the ingredients into a basil "cake" 


Transfer the pesto "cake" to a small bowl (not much bigger than the cake). Cover with a bit of olive oil, it doesn't take much, just a few tablespoons.

You can set this aside or place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Just before serving give the pesto a quick stir to incorporate some of the oil into the basil. She occasionally thins the pesto with a splash of pasta water for more coverage, but for our pasta this wasn't necessary.