Pasta, Pesto et Poisson

As promised, here's my pesto post.  I suppose I can see why pesto is so expensive in the shops, because parmesan and pine nuts are luxury items.  That being said, holy cow!  I'm not sure I can go back to store bough pesto.  The flavour seemed to explode!  It tasted so vivid and fresh... like there was a party in my mouth!  I thought it was a bit too oily yesterday, but when I used it today with pasta, it was perfect.  If making it for a dip with crackers or to eat immediately, I'd suggest a little less oil and salt.  I'm also a bit of a garlic fiend... I think you couldn't go too far wrong with another clove of fresh garlic.

So... here we are:

Basil Pesto - Makes approx 1 1/4 cups - Weight Watchers ProPoints - 3 points per tbsp

• 3 1/2 - 4 cups loosely packed basil leaves (gently washed and dried)
• 1/2 cup pine nuts
• 1/2 cup parmesan
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Wash and dry - remove leaves from stalks.

 

Toast pine nuts in a pan with no oil over medium heat until a nice golden brown - then put in food processor.

Not sure if you're meant to use grated parmesan or whole bits, but this is what I had.  I threw it in the food processor before I did all the other parts.

Peeled and tossed in the processor.

Basically, I put all the bits in the processor and whirred it until it made a thick paste.  Delicious!

Most importantly - put it in a cute bottle with an equally as cute label when finished.

A couple of tablespoons of pesto, pasta and the fish from yesterday.  Ridiculously yummy.