Fresh Basil Pesto / Tuna Pesto Pasta

Fresh Basil Pesto is my go to pasta sauce when in a hurry. The  no fuss ingredients give it a fresh and unique taste. It is effortless to make with no hard and fast rules. In fact, you can easily tweak the amount of its ingredients to suit your palate. It is so versatile that you can actually make 3 different paste recipes with it- feel free to combine it with chicken, tuna, or shrimps. But it is actually good on its own. 

I have tried making pesto using both the blender and the mortar and pestle. But doing it the traditional way, taking your time pounding on the pesto ingredients by hand gives out the best result. The flavor is way more intense and the texture is more rustic as you get bits of nuts and basil with every forkful.

Nothing beats the taste of freshly made basil pesto, store bought pesto doesn't even compare.

My homemade pesto- add more basil for a greener pesto

Basil leaves from my garden

Fresh Basil Pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese (freshly grated is the best)

1/3 cup cashew or any nuts of your choice (pine nuts is the best, walnuts, peanuts, almond)

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 tsp salt, more to taste

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

mortar and pestle, blender, Food processor

Pound away!

1 Using a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic, salt and ground black pepper until it turns into paste. Add the basil leaves in small handfuls and crush until it turns into paste. Add and pound in the nuts.

2 Add in the cheese in small amounts, pound until everything is incorporated in the pesto.

3 Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while continuously pounding the sauce to help emulsify the pesto.

4 Transfer in a bowl and drizzle with more olive oil.

Tuna Pesto Pasta

500 grams pasta of your choice cooked according to package

2 cans of tuna in water, drained

2 tbsp olive oil

1 cup or more of fresh basil pesto

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

chili flakes, optional

My camera couldn't quite capture the deliciousness of this pasta

1 In a saucepan heat up the olive oil and saute the tuna.

2 Turn off the heat and pour in the fresh basil pesto sauce.

3 Mix in the newly cooked pasta. Add salt and pepper to taste

4 Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and chili flakes (as desired)