I always loved pasta with pesto but I thought making pesto was complicated.
Last year, I had a huge amount of basil in my garden. I wondered what I can do with it and this is when my neighbour gave me her recipe of pesto.
I realised doing pesto was very simple.
At the start of this year, it was mint that had taken over my garden. So, I used the same recipe to do pesto with mint instead of the traditional one with basil. The result was great! The taste of the mint with the pistachios was delicious.
So, here’s the recipe for the basil pesto. For the mint pesto, I just replaced the pine nuts with pistachios.
Ingredients:
-2 cups of tightly packed basil (or mint) leaves washed and dried
-4 garlic cloves crushed
-1 teaspoon of salt
-¾ cup of olive oil
-¾ cup pine nuts (for the mint pesto I used pistachios)
-½ cup of grated parmesan cheese
Method:
-Put in the blender the basil leaves (or mint leaves) and process briefly.
- Add the garlic, salt, pistachios and half of the olive oil and process.
- If you do the pesto with pine nuts, add them after and process just so they are lightly chopped.
-Add the rest of the olive oil and parmesan cheese and process briefly.
-The result should be a smooth paste with small pieces of pine nuts or pistachios.
-Put the pesto in a container and add a little bit of olive oil on the surface to preserve. The pesto can be kept for months in the freezer or weeks in the fridge.
I enjoyed the pesto with my pasta. But you can also spread it on your bread or have it as a dressing for a salad.
The Knitting series will be back next Friday with joining in yarn, joining pieces and yarn over.
Happy Friday and enjoy your week-end!
Linking this post with Grace over at With Some Grace for FYBF.
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{ 24 comments… read them below or add one }
This sounds yum! And I’ve always had more success growing mint than basil.
Mint just take over the garden!
Oh yum that looks lovely. Do you add parmesan to the mint pesto as well or leave it out?
I add parmesan to the mint pesto as well.
Yum! I feel like a big plate of vegetarian spaghetti with pesto now. Thank you Rita for posting this recipe. It’s been a long time I want to know how to do pesto.
Yum! Me too!
Great timing! It’s been raining here for days and my herb garden has gone crazy. Looks like I’ve got some cooking to do this weekend
Let me know if you try this recipe.
Yum Pesto!!!! You have inspired me to make some this weekend, thanks x
Oh! Let me know how you go if you do it.
ooo yum! How long does it keep for?? Can you freeze it?
#FYBF
Yvette, you have to put a little bit of olive oil on the top and you can keep it for up to three weeks in the fridge and a few months in the freezer.
Wow Rita I adore pesto and this is something even I could do!! Thanks for sharing
xxx
So easy to do!
Yum, c’est très appétissant. Bravo!
Merci!
That looks great and pretty easy………makes me wonder why I just bought a store bought jar last night!
Homemade pesto taste so much better. Give it a try Marleisa and let me know if you like it.
wow!!! that is a lot of mint! But I love pesto!!!
Haha! I know!
Oh, I love pesto! I get massive cravings for it once in a while! Thanks for sharing this recipe, Rita! I’ve always wanted to make my own
Thanks for hosting Grace!
Its a good idea to use all the mint that i have in my garden too. Thanks for the recipe.
It’s a great recipe to do if you have a lot of mint or basil.