Pesto is delicious, and really couldn't be easier. Throw some basil, pine nuts, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor and blend it all with some olive oil until it reaches a gorgeous sauce consistency. But that doesn't mean things can't somehow go wrong. The basil could turn black or gray when in the fridge, or your pesto can turn out really lumpy - a little more texture than you had intended.
So how do you stop those things from happening? You follow the tips below. By doing so you'll achieve perfect pesto every single time, and will start using it on more than just pasta. You'll be using it on eggs, on pizza, or just using it as a dip all its own. When you have a jar ready to go in the fridge, everything will be better with a little bit of pesto!
1. Blanch the basil To many, this may seem unheard of. But it will do your pesto a world of good, particularly in a few days when you want to use up that pesto in the fridge. This is because when fresh basil is placed into the fridge, it can turn black or gray very quickly. And even if it's in a sauce and okay to eat, it will still look unappetizing and no one will want to eat it. But when you blanch the basil, it will lock in the freshness and make your pesto look greener than any other pesto you've ever seen.
To blanch the basil, bring a pot of heavily salted water to a boil. Add the basil, let it cook for just five to ten seconds, and then remove it with tongs and place it in a large bowl of ice water. Then remove the basil, lay it out on paper towels, and blot it dry before placing it in the food processor.
2. Turn the garlic into a paste Even the most avid garlic lovers often don't love it raw. And if it's just minced into the pesto, there's a good chance that someone is going to bite down into a big chunk of it, which could turn them off pesto for good.
To avoid this, you have to break the garlic down before adding it to the basil in the food processor and a great way to do that is to turn it into a paste. To do it, mince the garlic and place in a pile on a cutting board. Sprinkle with salt then, using the flat side of the blade of a knife, scrape the garlic back and forth repeatedly. Once the garlic has released some of its natural moisture, it will start to break down and turn into a paste. Then it can be added to the processor and as a bonus, this will mellow out the taste of it, too.
3. Keep an eye on those pine nuts! Pesto needs some kind of nuts and traditionally, pine nuts are used. But just throwing them in raw will do your pesto a disservice and won't bring the multiple layers of texture they have the potential to be. To take them up a notch you have to toast them. And when toasting pine nuts, you can't take your eyes off of them. Pine nuts burn incredibly quickly and if you walk away for just one minute, they will likely burn. If left that way, they will throw off the taste of your pesto and ruin it. Instead, place pine nuts in a frying pan and dry toast them for 5 - 8 minutes, tossing regularly. Once they just start to brown, remove the pine nuts from the pan.
4. Add cheese at the end Parmesan cheese is another staple of all good pestos, and it shouldn't be added until the very end. Parmesan cheese helps give the sauce some body and texture, but it won't be able to do that unless it's added at the very end. Add it t the processor and it will only become as finely chopped - and textureless- as everything else. So pulse all the ingredients together in the food processor then add the cheese and just stir it in.
5. Make substitutions While the above ingredients are the traditional ones used in pesto, you can feel free to get creative with it and substitute some ingredients for others. Swap out the basil for other greens such as parsley, mint, spinach, or even kale. Instead of using pine nuts use finely chopped walnuts, pecans, or even peanuts. The sky's the limit!
6. Store it properly Pesto keeps very well, but you do have to know how to do it. If placing pesto in the fridge, pour some olive oil on top so air doesn't get to it. That will keep the pesto fresh and keep the herbs and/or vegetables from changing color. You can also freeze pesto beautifully just by pouring it into ice cube trays and placing it in the freezer. Let the cubes freeze through and you'll have some perfectly portioned pesto for whenever you need it!
