Pesto
I love pesto, but have never made my own. I had a bunch of basil that needed using up, so I gave it a try. Boy was I glad I did, it tasted so much better than any other pesto I have ever had. There are tons of recipes out there, but this is the first one I came across, so this is what I tried. 
I’ve never made it before as basil from the store is expensive, and boy howdy those pine nuts are ridiculous. I found them in one store in town and they were $35 a pound. That is way out of my food budget, so in future I will be substituting walnuts or almonds (as I have read that lots of people do). 
The pesto made a delicious pasta supper, so let’s just hope we get a bunch more basil growing here in the next few weeks so I can make and freeze some for winter.
I am not a fan of pinenuts but I had a lot of Basil to use as well. I found this recipe and LOVED it 🙂 It uses artichoke hearts instead.
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/condiments/a-taste-of-spring-e28093basil-and-artichoke-heart-pesto-without-nuts/
I make a pretty mean pesto using spinach, walnuts, garlic, onions and parmesan cheese…goes great on homemade toasted baguette slices. Yummmmy!
Looks very tasty indeed! I’ve never made my own either, I don’t know why but I just never make the effort! Probably something to do with how expensive it is to buy pinenuts and basil in the shops too!
I LOVE pesto! Ive only discovered it this summer and cant get enough!
Heather x
Our local supermarket sells basil in pots – I always have one on my kitchen windowsill, where it grows really well. It’s much cheaper than buying cut basil ….. and I frequently brush my fingers over it just to enjoy the smell!!
That looks delicious! I am so impressed with your green fingers – I thought you said everything died! Have a good weekend xxx
Mousy Brown, I bought the basil plants when they were nice and full and got a big harvest off of them. I laughed though when I saw the tag as it says you can pretty much do anything with basil as it’s very hardy. I kill basil, every single time I have any, seed or plant. After I harvested some of the leaves, it is looking very peaky indeed. No green fingers here, just some occasional luck 🙂
I am very impressed.
I love pesto and yours looks fab.
We always replace pine nuts with walnuts unless by some strange occurance pine nuts are wildly reduced at the supermarket.
Stumbled on your blog, and wanted to say that cashews are an excellent substitute for pine nuts. My husband is allergic to pine nuts and I have been using 50/50 walnuts and pine nuts in pesto. The cashews make it wonderfully creamy.