08.11.11_Pesto

As the week is coming to a close we needed to use up the other half of the Eastern Market pasta we had bought last weekend. I decided that I did not want to have the exact same meal and thought that a pesto sauce would go nicely with the both the tortellini and the spinach and cheese ravioli that we had left. Since I have made pesto before, and because it is one of the easiest yet most delicious sauces ever, I knew the ingredients I needed but wanted to double check the proportions of each item. I automatically walked over to my computer to look up a recipe but then stopped myself when it dawned on me that I could use an actual cookbook. Such a novel concept. I pulled out the first cookbook I ever owned, the Better Homes and Garden New Cookbook, which my mom gave to me as a house warming gift for my first apartment. As I sat on the couch looking up pesto in the index, Phillip looked over me and said, "Whoa. You're using an actual cookbook." Funny how much even cooking has been changed by technology. But I digress.

I halved the recipe since I only needed enough pesto for two servings and because I only had one cup of fresh basil (and no, we didn't steal it this time, we actually bought it). I put 1 cup of packed basil leaves, 2 cloves of garlic, 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup pine nuts, and a pinch of salt and black pepper into my baby food processor and gave it a quick pulse. Because I only have the baby Cuisinart I could not stream the olive oil in as I pulsed. I added a little bit of oil at a time until it all came together into a nice consistency. I used a little bit more oil then the recipe called for (I used 1/4 of a cup) because I wanted it to be a little bit looser and more or of a sauce then a paste.

A super close up of the pesto, in case you felt a need to see every speck of basil and cheese.

I made garlic bread again out of leftover buns from our Veggie Burger night. I changed it up a bit this time and just used garlic powder instead of fresh garlic and also sprinkled some Parmesan cheese on top before toasting the bread. I always forget how much I love pesto until I have it. I only used half of the pine nuts so I put the rest into the freezer, as Rachael Ray taught me to, so that they would last longer. You don't want the "oil to spoil!" I can't wait to use the leftovers in another pesto dish sometime soon.