Fresh Basil Walnut Pesto

My basil plant was beginning to get out of hand.


I needed to get cracking on using it up. I knew the pesto would do the trick. It takes a lot of basil leaves to pack into 2 cups.

I mixed this pesto in with some pasta and served with grilled chicken. It was a wonderful summertime meal. The pesto would also go well with a round of homemade artisan bread. Just me, the bread and the pesto, but I think my family would get upset if I didn't share.

Fresh Basil Walnut Pesto

• 2 cups packed fresh basil
• 3 garlic cloves
• ⅓ cup walnuts
• ⅔ cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp each of salt and ground pepper, or to your taste
• ½ cup 3 cheese blend of Parmesan, Asiago and Romano. I like to buy the blend that my store offers, but you could also just use any one of these cheeses.

Place basil, garlic, walnuts, salt and pepper in a food processor. Turn on your food processor and start to slowly stream in the olive oil, stopping periodically to scrape the pesto down from the sides of the processor.

Add cheese and pulse a few times to mix well.

I used this entire batch right away by mixing in to pasta. If you want to freeze the pesto for future use, omit the cheese and place in freezer container. When ready to use, thaw the pesto and mix cheese in to the pesto.

Print recipe for Basil Walnut Pesto.

Have you made anything from your herb garden yet this year? Let us know in the comments.


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This post is linked to Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop.