Basil Pesto
2ВЅ cups fresh basil leaves (packed)
ВЅ cup olive oil
Вј cup pine nuts or walnuts, toasted
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
NOTES: If you’d like to keep your pesto extra bright green (and you have a few extra minutes), blanch the basil leaves in a pot of boiling water for about 60 seconds, and then transfer the leaves to an ice-water bath to stop the cooking. See here for a super-simple basil aioli recipe. Or even easier, just stir about a ½ cup of Paleo Mayonnaise (see recipe) into the Basil Pesto to make a quick basil mayonnaise. (The difference being that the aioli has no nuts in it).
