Pesto recipe

This is very easy because I'm using a great blender, the Nutri Ninja Auto IQ. Not using fancy features, but boy, does this blend.

Keep in mind that you can easily halve this recipe, and recently I've only been using the "half" version of the recipe, to good effect.

Everything is adjustable. The biggest mistake I've made is to over salt the pesto. The second biggest mistake was to add too much garlic.

Ingredients:

  • 4 boxes of the bodek style basil leaves (easier to clean, debug, etc.)
  • 4 cloves of garlic (you can also use the crushed garlic available in supermarkets)
  • 1 cup of crushed nuts (see comment below)
  • 1 cup of olive oil
  • 1 tsp salt (to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp pepper (to taste) 
  • 1 capful lemon juice (to taste)
  • 6 tbs nutritional yeast

Pour the olive oil into the blender. Peel the garlic, take off ugly bits, rough chop if you want, toss into the blender. Put in the salt and pepper.

I've never tried it, but I understand that you can also substitute half of the basil with fresh parsley or spinach. Maybe one day I'll try it.

Regarding the nuts, those of you who know me will be astonished to learn that I am not a purist about the nuts in this recipe. If you want to be authentic, use pine nuts. They are really expensive, but it's your decision. I usually have a variety of nuts around, including some crushed almonds. Pretty much anything works, and of course the flavor will vary depending on what you put in. I just throw in whatever is in the open bags until I have a cupful.

 Since I use a Nutri Ninja, except for cutting off the very tips, I use the basil stems too.

 Blend until you reach the desired consistency. I like it smooth. You'll probably have to scrape down the sides with a plastic spatula and blend a little more towards the end.

 I usually store two cups of the pesto, one in the fridge and one in the freezer.

 You can get a good head start cleaning the blender by giving it a quick rinse, then putting in several drops of dishwashing liquid  and pulse the blender for a couple of seconds. If you use this method, don't do what I did and accidentally leave the spatula in the blender. The results are exciting but undesired. The blender wasn't damaged, but the spatula has gone on to the Great Spatula Paradise in the sky.

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