I do love a pesto pasta dish! And having been on holiday to Italy and with a love of Italian food, I thought this easy homemade pesto recipe would be a great one to share.
Shop bought pesto can be fairly expensive and, in my experience, it’s really hard to get a decent pesto sauce that tastes really good. That’s one of the reasons I was so excited when I realised that pesto is actually one of the quickest, cheapest and easiest sauces to make from scratch. Additionally, my homemade pesto recipe can actually last quite a long time in the fridge too, especially if you pour a really thin layer of olive oil on top before you put it in the fridge.
Pesto is all about experimenting with a few ingredients until, eventually, you get it just right. It’s really easy to make more of it too, in case you ever haven’t made enough to go round, as there are so few ingredients. It’s also a great idea for using up leftover greens that are about to go off!
So here is my very ‘Jamie Oliver style’ (bish bash bosh…) recipe for an Easy Peasy homemade Pesto.
Ingredients for my pesto recipe:
- Two very large handfuls of left over greens such as basil, spinach or kale (or a mix of them all!)
- A handful of nuts such as pine nuts, almonds or (my favourite) cashew nuts
- A clove of garlic (2 if you like your pesto garlicky)
- A good few glugs of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Pepper to taste
- Some extras you could include:
- Lemon juice – just a few squeezes to give it a little lemon zing.
- Or you could add a few gratings of parmesan or cheddar cheese.
Method:
- Put all ingredients into a blender and blend – voila!
You may need to add a little more or less olive oil depending on whether you want your pesto runny of thick.
You can pop it in a jam-jar and keep it in the fridge or add it straight to pasta or salad.
For more of our recipes visit the “healthy recipe” section of my blog. This Easy homemade Pesto Recipe should make roughly enough for 3 or 4 servings. For more, use a whole bag of greens and increase the other ingredients accordingly!