Pesto Addiction: It Could Happen to You

By: Joanna McDonald | June 25 2010
Posted in Rogue Valley - Cook It - Rogue Valley

I'm willing to bet most people probably don’t think of pesto as a quick, go-to dinner. I didn’t either until I moved in with Sara my junior year of college. An effusive, food-obsessed Italian, Sara would drag herself in the door after a long day of classes, looking like most people do when they’re about to make a PBJ or place an order with Pizza Hut and flop in front of the TV for a few hours.

The nooks and crannies of rotini or fusilli are perfect for pesto. Photo: Joanna McDonald

She’d kick off her shoes, put a bottle of Chianti in the fridge to chill for a few minutes (European room temperature) and start defoliating a basil plant. Leaves went from the salad spinner into the food processor, along with a moderate glug of olive oil. A few pulses of the Cuisinart yielded the beginnings of something magical. After scraping the sides down, she’d mince a few cloves of garlic and dump in a seemly arbitrary amount of Parmesan cheese. The rest of the process went: spin, scrape, test, add _____, and repeat until the proper flavor was achieved.

Some nights were cheesier, some more garlicky. It was always addictively good. The flavor would wander into my thoughts during a history lecture, at which point I would covertly text my roommate under the table: “pesto 4 dinner again 2nite? Will stop at tj’s after class 4 more basil.”

If you like your pesto creamier, blend it longer. Photo: Joanna McDonald

I learned a lot of really good, useful things in college, but it’s altogether possible that the one thing I’ve enjoyed most (and will continue to savor for years) is the skill of making pesto. It’s now a favorite go-to meal for my husband and me, and eating doesn't get more local than the basil that comes out of the now-flourishing garden out back. We make it by feel like Sara, even though it frustrated me at the time that there was no recipe. For those who can’t be coached by the master, I’ve pieced together a rough recipe, but you’ll have to adjust it to your liking.

Sara’s Pesto

Ingredients

1 4-oz package of basil

1/8 – 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (or one ring halfway between the wall and the blade of the food processor bowl, with the diameter of the oil flow about 1/4 inch)

1/4 cup-plus grated parmesan cheese

2-4 cloves of garlic to taste

Directions

Put the de-stemmed basil (stems are bitter; always remove) in the food processor, pour on oil. It’s better to err on the side of less oil, because you can always add more. Pulse a few times to compact the leaves and oil. Remove the lid and scrape the sides down. Add cheese and garlic, replace the lid, and spin a few more times. Taste test. Add more olive oil if it’s too thick, more cheese if it’s too runny, and more garlic if it doesn’t have enough kick.

Note: Some pesto is made with pine nuts. Mine's not, because Sara's isn't, because she's allergic to pine nuts.

Who's the last person who taught you how to make something you now couldn't live without?