Fresh pesto can be expensive to make, if you have to purchase fresh basil and the pine nuts and the Parmesan cheese. Things can add up very quickly. So I have a little trick for you all. Of course, grow your own basil if you can--that saves you $3-$4 each time you make it.
Next, pine nuts are extremely expensive! At Costco, they are around $15 a bag, which of course, it is a large quantity, but it's a nearly half of my weekly grocery budget. DH mentioned at his restaurant, they make their pesto with peeled almonds instead (see my tip here for peeling almonds), for that very same reason. Really, I thought....I will have to try that. This is what I came up with.
Fresh Basil Pesto
1-2 cloves fresh garlic
1 1/2 cups fresh basil
1/4 cup peeled almonds
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to desired consistency
With food processor running, drop peeled garlic cloves through feed tube to mince. Once minced, add basil, almonds, and Parmesan to food processor and process to combine to a paste like consistency. Add olive oil to desired thickness. Turns out I like mine a little thicker and DH likes his a little saucier. Go figure!
Hope you love it as much as we did!
This recipe is linked to:
Beauty and Bedlam's Tasty Tuesday
Blessed With Grace Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Grocery Cart Challenge Recipe Swap
Life as Mom Ultimate Recipe Swap
We Are THAT Family Works For Me Wednesday
I also like using toasted walnuts in pesto. Anyway you do it, I LOVE pesto :)
ReplyDeleteBlessings!
Gail
Looks like a great idea! Thanks for linking to TMTT.
ReplyDeleteSounds terrific to me! I wish the rest of my family liked pesto as much as I do! :) On the rare occasions that I've made it, I hear grumbles about "the green stuff."
ReplyDeleteI make pesto with either walnuts or almonds, although I do love the taste of pine nut pesto. I leave out the parmesan, since I pile so much on my pasta, anyway :)
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a lovely pesto - delicious! Plus almonds are really, really good for you too!
ReplyDeleteWe both posted pesto recipes this week!! I love any type of pesto and have tried it with walnuts but not almonds. I am going to do this in the future!! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteYum! I've made it with walnuts, but never with almonds. I am praying for an abundance of basil so I can do this!
ReplyDeleteI just made a garlic scape and basil pesto that used almonds. I've read about walnuts, too. Pine nuts are so expensive but so good.
ReplyDeleteThis looks delicious.
Sounds great! Can't wait to give that a try!
ReplyDeleteI use walnuts often, but another money saving tip is to use part flat leaf Italian Parsley for some of the basil - I like the flavor & it is cheaper than the basil.
ReplyDeleteGreat tip! We love pesto...wishing I'd planted more basil!
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