Image Map

pesto, nonna style.

last night adam, adam's parents (!), and i shared a delicious dinner. let me tell you:

about two months ago one of adam's customers sent him home with a couple leaves of basil for me to plant. she had heard i was trying to establish an herb garden and that i couldn't find any suitable basil. 'twas true. i was being a bit of a basil snob, i suppose. 

well, i planted those little leaves and soon a huge basil plant exploded on my back porch. last night i finally decided to harvest all the luscious greenness and make some homemade pesto--italian style. 

i hate that pesto here doesn't look or taste like pesto in italy. why can't we make any food as well as they do???

so i tried to find a recipe that was written by an italian. this is what i found.


"how to make pesto like an italian grandmother" 

(aka, "una nonna")


you can click the photos to read the recipe. it's kind of long. but here are the main points:

-cut the ingredients don't process. it makes a huge difference for the texture.

-add in little bits at a time as you chop so that by the end you'll have a variety of sizes of "chopped". again, makes the texture and the flavor better. it also makes your hands and house smell amazing. even without cooking anything.

dins was great! the pesto took us back to italy. (well, almost). we put it on pasta and paired it with a delicious arugula and beet salad, courtesy of my favorite local farmers. and one of our favorite wines, apothic red. hooray for having the in-laws visit from washington. and hooray for good meals.

try this pesto! and let me know how it goes. i think it's as close to italian as i'll get here. so good!

have you made any noteworthy recipes lately? 

do share. 





2 comments:

  1. oh my gosh this looks AMAZING! i don't know if i could be brave enough to make my own pesto... i'd be too scared i'd screw it up!! elise you are one talented chef!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. it WAS amazing. you could definitely do it. it wasn't hard at all. plus, there are only five ingredients. might as well try.... :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

  © Blogger template Shush by Ourblogtemplates.com 2009

Back to TOP