Hey Everyone,
Summer is here which means that my family garden is well on its way to growing a delicious harvest of fresh vegetables. Recently we have had our basil plants take off and grow a significant amount of leaves so we decided our best bet was to create a delicious pesto sauce.
Ingredients
8 cups Fresh Basil Leaves
2/3 cup Toastes Pine Nuts
2 tsp Garlic Salt
Salt & Pepper to taste
4 tbsp Lemon Juice (about the juice of one whole lemon)
4 tsp Lemon Zest
1 1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3/4 cup Freshly Grates Parmiggiano Reggiano
Directions
1. Begin by toasted the pine nuts until they are a light golden brown. Be careful as they burn fast!
2. In a food processor add the basil leaves, toasted pine nuts, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic salt and salt and pepper. Begin grinding all the ingredients while slowly adding a steady stream of olive oil.
3. Once all is combined, stir in the parmiggiano reggiano.
Tips!
*Toast your pine nuts on a skillet over the stove top on low heat. In this way it gives you more control over the heat not burning them because speaking from experience I burned mine far too easily when I placed them in the oven.
*Store your pesto sauce in a mason jar for easy and quick storage. Before serving give the sauce a stir as the oil may separate a little.
I really hope you enjoy this recipe. i never have made a pesto sauce with lemon before and I have to say that it makes all the difference. It adds that extra bit of zesty flavour that livens up the sauce making all that more summery and great for a BBQ side dish!