I am so in LOVE with basil at the moment! I’ve always been drawn to it but right now it’s all I can think about. I recently picked up some new basil plants at my local garden center and ever since, I’ve been thinking of different ways to use it.

Today, I made a pesto recipe of mine I’d like to share with you. It’s very easy and relatively fast to make, plus, you can do SO much with it. This pesto recipe is pretty much no muss, no fuss, minus the fact you have to get out the food processor.

It’s also pretty darn flexible. Don’t have lemon or parmesan on hand? No problemo. You can absolutely make it without it. You can even substitute basil for dark leafy greens like kale or kohlrabi. You almost can’t mess up pesto…

Although this recipe includes parmesan, I actually prefer pesto without it. Pesto really doesn’t need parmesan to be a culinary masterpiece, so skip it if you wish.

For my pesto, I used Italian and purple basil. The purple basil is almost too pretty to eat!

I picked the basil leaves fresh from my basil garden.

Ingredients

3 garlic cloves, minced
2 C fresh picked basil leaves, tightly packed
1/2 C grated Parmesan cheese (optional)
1 T lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/2 C extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Supplies: food processor

Method

• In your food processor, add garlic, basil, parmesan cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Pulse everything together until it becomes a fine paste. (This should take about 1 minute.)

• With the food processor running, slowly drizzle the olive oil into the pesto. You can always add a little more or a little less olive oil, depending on how thick or thin you want it to be. I prefer my pesto on the thinner side because it spreads easier. However, if you want to use it on a sandwich, you may want it thicker.

• Lastly, salt and pepper the pesto until it tastes just right.

• Place the fresh pesto in a sealed glass jar and it will keep for about 1 week refrigerated.

Makes about 1 cup.

What to do with your fresh basil pesto

Besides putting fresh pesto on a bed of angel hair pasta, I love it on a nice salad.

For lunch, today, that's just what I decided to make to go with my homemade pesto. I simply tossed together:

• a mix of baby lettuce, baby greens, and radicchio
• a heaping tablespoon of fresh pesto
• pitted Greek Kalamata olives
• fresh mozzarella slices
• red onion slices
• yellow salad tomatoes

The result was a super simple, yet superb salad!

Doesn't that just make your mouth water???

Go on... make some basil pesto... You know you want to !!