Brittney and Pesto

This is a picture of me and my sister in the summer before I left. (Britt is to the right with the glasses and pearls, I have the awkward split bang.) We were at the Asian Night Market in Vancouver. The stuff in our hands are sticky barbeque pork buns. Don't judge it them until you have tried them! They are fantastic, they are sweet and yummy, usually they are small, but these were the size of our faces and we were a happy pair!

There was a sad time when she went away to study in Italy, sad for me, because I was the one who couldn't eat pizza and pasta and drink espresso in a cafe in Rome. When she came home however she made me Pesto pasta, which I had never had before, it is now one of my favorite meals!




Where we live our land lady (who is so lovely) has a garden and in the garden was Basil! Basil makes everything better! I love it! So I went out to the garden and said I am going to make a little batch of Pesto!

Pesto is so easy! All you need is Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil, a good handful and a bit of Basil, Garlic, Parmesan Cheese and Pine Nuts.



Yes those are not pine nuts, those are pistachios. I used pistachios because I didn't have pine nuts and it was a delicious coincidence.

 Shell 1/2c of pistachios.

In a blender, or a food processor
Peel three or four cloves of Garlic and chop them up.

Add the pine nuts/ pistachios and chop. You may want to add a little olive oil to help it chop smoothly and grab a spatula to clear the edges.

Next add all your basil and 1/4th c of Parmesan.
Try and chop.. if you have a food processor this is probably much easier!

Add the olive oil slowly to get the right consistency. Mix it all up, and scrape the sides, add the pepper and salt.

Just as a side note, if you are like me at all and you improvise, do not use any other oil!! Make sure its Olive Oil!! Not Canola Oil, not Sunflower Oil, not melted butter, nothing else will do but Olive Oil, and its better for you and makes a wonderful moisturizer.

Voila! You have pesto!
Now boil some water and grab some bowtie pasta cook it, then add the new lovely pesto, eat and be merry!


Thanks Italy for pesto pasta! Britt thanks for making me fall in love with this dish! xx