Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Making Pesto!!

I love Pesto...I order it often with pasta when we go out for dinner.
 
With all the fresh basil I had this summer,
I decided to make it at home.
This was the first time and although I loved it,
it was a lot of work and I don't know if I would make it again.
 
I had a recipe and I did take pictures,
of course.
 
 The ingredient line-up...

 I took my time...measuring and chopping.

 I toasted the pine nuts...

 and I love them but can someone please tell me why
they are so darn expensive??

 Everything goes in the blender...
it looks like a lot but you don't get much.

 Well, you do get a messy kitchen.
 
 That's it kids...

 it all blended down to this.

 I made an assembly line of sorts...

 Pasta, pesto, pine nuts, a few fresh diced tomatoes,
fresh parmesan cheese and

 a spring of basil, to make it look pretty!!
 
It was good, but a lot of work.
So do tell, what's been cooking in your kitchen??
 

26 comments:

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

kudos to your perseverance

:O)

Jackie See said...

Looks delicious Debbie! Pine nuts... I doubt if I could find any here in our part of southwest missouri. We have lots of nuts though! LOL

Judy said...

I have been doing salad, and then developed health issues, so there has not been much cooking being done in my house. Now I am off to visit my Mom while the doctors ponder the results of these tests to see what the next step is...

Stephanie said...

Yum! This looks delicious! I'll have to try it sometime :)

My nieces and nephews love to go out into the woods to gather pine nuts - come on over, sweet Debbie :)

Have a great day!

Maureen @ Josephina Ballerina said...

Jeepers, they make it look so easy and quick on TV. (At 59 I still believe what I see on TV? Really, Maureen?) But you totally rocked it, Debbie! Hubs shoulda filmed it! A new TV chef is born! Something like Debbie's For Real Kitchen!

TexWisGirl said...

i like pesto. i LOVE basil. one of the few herbs i use every week.

Kmcblackburn said...

Yep! It sure reduces down to a little bit doesn't it! But lots of flavor in that little package :)

Sally said...

Would you believe, I've never had pesto. :)

In my kitchen yesterday, I made homemade vegetable soup, corn bread, pineapple angel food cake. My brother & sis-in-law, Britt and the three littles. It was loud and rambunctious: I loved every minute (well, most every minute). :)

Muffie said...

I've never made my own pesto, but they make it look so easy on the cooking shows! Maybe I'll give it a try, but as you said --a lot of work for such a small return. I'm in the middle of muffins -- all different flavors. We'll eat a little, and I'll freeze a lot for my cookie trays. The house smells so good with all the spices.

Unknown said...

That looks really easy to make at home. I should give it a try.

GreenComotion said...

Nice recipe. I love pesto, with or without the pasta.

Thank you for sharing.

Peace :)

DIMI said...

Hello Debbie!!What a lovely resipe!I have basil plants in my garden and i like making pesto !!So delicious!!I love pine nuts!They sure are expendive here too!Today i cooked spaggeti with mince meat sause!I hope you like it!!So Italian!!Have a lovely day!
Dimi...

A Colorful World said...

Great fun, even if there is a mess! :-) I made some years ago. It's so GOOD! :-)

EG CameraGirl said...

I LOVE pesto! YUM!

barbara l. hale said...

I love it, too! I think it's worth the effort. I haven't made it from scratch for years, but maybe I will again one of these days. And I have no idea why pine nuts are so expensive. I always used walnuts in mine.

Lisa Gordon said...

I made this on Sunday.
I make a huge batch of it, and then freeze smaller batches. It freezes really well, and it is so yummy on just about everything.

eileeninmd said...

Debbie, it looks delicious.. I would probably be the only one in my family to eat it though.. I love the Pine Nuts, they are great on salads.

Gail Dixon said...

You made it all come together at the end to look delicious. And I'm not a pesto-person. :) I think it's fun that you tried something new.

Farm Girl said...

It looks wonderful. You know why I think that Pine nuts are so expensive because it is a lot of work. I used to gather them at my Grandmothers and sit and crack them open for a little bit of meat. Not like other nuts.
I like it on french bread.

Bethany Carson said...

Looks like an interesting and tasty meal! I've never eaten anything quite like it...
Lately I've been cooking pancakes for breakfast.

Karen said...

Gotta love home made pesto!

Tina Fariss Barbour said...

You have such beautiful dishes! And the food looks delicious. I don't know if I can eat pine nuts since I'm allergic to tree nuts.

LeAnn said...

Wow, that looks like a bit of work. When I was growing up my parents used to take us to collect pine nuts. I haven't thought about that for years. I do love pine nuts.
Blessings for your hard work on this one.

Laura. M said...

I love pasta, pesto Debbie;))
Good Wednesdays.
Besos.

♥ Łucja-Maria ♥ said...

Debbie did a great pesto.
Delicious. There was no any chemical ingredients.
Debbie, pesto is not that time consuming. Often they do.
Why are pine nuts so expensive? Maybe it's because pine trees grow in Italy? They fit wonderfully into pesto.
Greetings from Polish.
Lucia

Ida said...

I know I've used Pine Nuts in recipes before and they are expensive. Guess it must be hard to harvest them or something.
Your food looks yummy.