Homemade Pesto Pasta Recipe (from Fresh Basil, Step-by-Step for Dummies)

Completely randomly, I had an overwhelming influx of fresh basil AND parsley and had no idea what I could do with these two herbs. Traditionally, I had always thought of them as extra garnish only, basil for Thai dishes and parsley for salads. However, I just had so many this time around that I didn’t think I could manage to use them all up if I insisted on using it for garnish purposes only.

Thankfully, Google came to the rescue! Who knew that pesto’s base ingredient is actually basil (now you do!), and that parsley can also serve to make pesto in a pinch? Even better, the recipe to make said pesto was pretty simple. Everyone agreed that a food processor was the best equipment to use, but I didn’t have this unfortunately, so I was stuck with my trusty blender. It turned out fine-ish, albeit the pesto wasn’t as finely ground as I would’ve preferred, which I suspect was the blender issue.

Okay, enough of my monologue, let’s jump into the recipe!

 

DELECTABLE SIDE DISH FOR THE DAY: HOMEMADE PESTO PASTA

DIFFICULTY: Easy

SERVING SIZE: Good for 5 people

PREPARATION TIME: 1 hour

 

INGREDIENTS FOR HOMEMADE PESTO PASTA (with explanations on why these ingredients are critical)

• 2 cups packed fresh basil and parsley leaves
• 1/2 cup virgin olive oil. You need this as it’ll serve to bring all the diverse ingredients together
• 1/3 cup walnut, toasted to bring out the flavor and aroma of the nut (traditionally, they used pine nut, which isn’t something I have readily available, so I substituted with walnut instead)
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated. This salty and creamy cheese tones down the sometimes overwhelming anise flavor of the basil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice. This isn’t a MUST, but I find that it brighten up the pesto flavor without needing to add more salt
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped. Honestly, I cook everything with garlic. I like the aroma, and that’s that.
• 1/4 tsp black pepper, depending on your preference
• 1/2 tsp fine salt. Salt is a miracle worker, in that it amps up all the other flavors AND reduces the bitterness of the basil. Win-win.

PROCEDURE

STEP 1: MAKE THE PESTO SAUCE FROM FRESH BASIL

• Toast the walnut first to really bring out the flavor and add an extra-savory edge to the pesto. I placed 1/3 cup of walnut into the toaster for 3 minutes and that did the trick. I suppose you can put it for longer, but I didn’t want to risk burning it. After toasting, transfer to a bowl to cool
• To make pesto, combine the 2 cups fresh basil/parsley, 1/3 cup cooled walnut, 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp juice, 4 cloves crushed garlic, 1/4 tsp black pepper, and 1/2 tsp salt in a blender (but preferably, a food processor). With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Adding the olive oil slowly, while the blender is running, will help it emulsify and help keep the olive oil from separating. Continue blending until the mixture is well blended but still has some texture. Pause periodically to scrape down the sides as necessary

**Side note: Honestly, I was a bit scared because my blender started making these horrible grating noises, so I ended up dumping the olive oil in one go. This did make the blender run smoother since there was something to “grease the wheels” so to speak. Did the oil still emulsify or blend well? I thought it did. So I leave this to your judgment – none of us want broken equipment just because we tried to follow the recipe to a tee.

• As you periodically scrape down the sides, taste and adjust, if necessary.
  1. Add more parmesan if you like creamier/cheesier pesto
  2. Add a pinch of salt if the basil tastes too bitter.
  3. Add more olive oil if you want thinner pesto sauce

• Finally, once you’re happy with the blend – taste and texture-wise, you can stop blending and pour out your homemade pesto sauce. Congratulations, we did it!

STEP 2: COOK THE PASTA

• Cook the pasta in medium heat, and let the water boil. The length of time you cook your pasta will depend on how soft you like your noodles

• When you drain the pasta, save the pasta cooking water into a separate bowl. I typically have the bowl underneath the strainer so that all the pasta water goes there. I learned this from a friend. The pasta cooking water is GOLDEN. It contains starch that creates a creamy emulsion and helps attach the sauce to the pasta, so definitely keep this!

• Off the heat, toss the cooked pasta, the pesto sauce, and small splashes of the pasta cooking water together until you’re happy with the consistency of your pesto pasta

STEP 3: BON APPETIT!