Earlier this week I spent the morning with my Nona, Aunt Lisa and cousin Amanda making homemade fresh pesto in my Nona’s kitchen!
I have so many memories growing up in her kitchen- making gnocchi, cobbler, jams, french toast and so much more. She always had the best
meals and we always ate around the table as a family. If we were lucky she would even let us have a little wine mixed with water!
Since I’m living so close now (across the vineyard) we thought it would be fun to get some of her wonderful Italian recipes written down. Like all
women in my family, my Nona cooks almost everything from memory and feel. So here is her pesto recipe to share with you all!
Like everything, you can make it your own and change portions to your taste!
Recipe
– Fresh basil leaves (8 cups)
– 1 head of garlic (to taste)
– 1/2 cup olive oil (also to taste)
– Containers to store
Directions
– Pick the leaves off the basil
– Rinse the basil leaves well
– Peel 1 head of garlic
– Add basil leafs and garlic into food processor,
then grind together
– Add your olive oil and grind once more
– Your pesto is ready!
– Optional: You can also add Parmesan cheese,
pine nuts or salt and pepper. It’s all about how you
like your pesto!
– Your kitchen now smells amazing of fresh pesto! You can
use it fresh immediately or make multiple batches and store in the freezer
to use as needed! This is a wonderful staple to have in your kitchen for
so many meals! It adds a great flavor to everything!
Ways to Use it!
– Of course you can use it to make a creamy pesto pasta! Yum!
– Add to any soups (chicken noodle!)
– Include in your red spaghetti sauce for extra flavor
– Create a wonderful stew in the winter time
Manga!!
Step by Step Photo Directions
Pick the leaves off the basil
Rinse the basil leaves well
Add basil leafs and garlic into food processor, grind together
Your pesto is ready!
Garlic, tomato, and Testa wine – a good start to the day!
Rinse the basil leaves well
Peel 1 head of garlic
Add your olive oil and grind once more
Use fresh or store it in the freezer like we do! You can put in freezer ziploc bags or poor into freezer trays and transfer to ziploc later!
We hope you enjoy this recipe and make wonderful memories in your kitchen with your loved ones while making it! I’ll be making creamy pesto pasta in my kitchen tonight with this batch and pairing it with our Testa White! 🙂 Enjoy and cheers!
