How to make Basil Pesto!

Take a look as supermarket shelves and you can see Basil pesto selling at above $10!

What is a basil pesto, why so expensive? The basic ingredients are not cheap. If made with the right ingredients not any cheap substitute, the price is like that one lah...

For home cook, buying the basic ingredient and DIY is not as cheap as buying ready made ones but considering the end quantity its much more value for money. and i love parmesan cheese, the more the merrier :)

This small packet of pine nuts will cost more then $10 already! Pine nuts are oily nuts and i always associate oil with flavour :) Nice smooth and creamy feel too. You don't want the end product to feel like chunky peanut butter...

Lightly toast in a pan but try not to burn any of it as the bitterness of burnt pine nuts will be very obvious in the end product.

Next up is Parmesan cheese! Get a decent quality one and u might have guess it right. This piece over here cost more then $10 too... Starting to feel the cost right? Grate it down till you are left with the rind.

Planning to dispose of the rind? you gotta be kidding me! every part of the cheese in that vacuum pack is Money! Save up the rind in a ziplock bag and throw it into final stage of cooking risotto. This will thicken up the risotto and give it that extra cheesy and creaminess of the great flavour of parmesan cheese.

Here comes the main ingredient Sweet Basil! This here will cost about $4-5 and also away of tradition, i love to add some coriander leaves. Note that i use only leaves and not stem.

To bind everything together, u need oil. I love to use normal olive oil instead of extra virgin olive oil because of price. EVOO is too expensive and turns rancid too fast before i can finish the whole bottle. So no thank you.

Next u need a tool to put everything together. Traditionally motar and pestle. Hahaha... But i'm not so free to make it the traditional way. I love my commercial heavy duty hand blender that easily blends everything together :) Easy to wash up as compared to a blender.

Just cover the ingredients with just enough olive oil to blend everything together. Not too much not too little.
Ta-Da! Here you go a nice smooth and creamy Basil Pesto! But Hey its not done yet! Season with sea salt flakes and my personal preference, just a bit of honey.

Simple Pasta in basil pesto with prawns, pepper and tomato. =)

U might be thinking, where are the measurements for the ingredient. To me, for home cook, there is no need for precise measurement as i'm against wastage. For restaurants, they have multiple use for the same ingredient and have to QC the taste thats y they need precise recipe.

But here is a rough measurement...

100g pine nuts

100g basil

50g coriander leaves

150g parmesan

300-400ml olive oil

Sea Salt to taste...

1 tbsp honey (optional)

Enjoy the perfect sauce for pasta salad :) Can keep in chiller for about a week maybe even 2-3 weeks but the flavour would not be as good.