recipe reviews for:

Simple Garlic and Basil Pesto

“This recipe is something that you can make quickly and easily using a blender. Everything you need is easy to find in your local supermarket. This paste is great for putting on or in meat and pastas, or with cottage cheese in stuffed pasta shells. Once I start making this, the orders from friends and family keep coming in. For best taste, pesto should be heated up in the meal it's being prepared with.”

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Reviewed: Jul. 24, 2008

This recipe was great, the only thing missing is the salt. I left out the Brazil nuts and added a bit more cheese. When I was done making the sauce I threw it in a skillet with cooked fettucine and mixed it to coat the noodles. My boyfriend is an avid pesto lover and he thought the only thing missing was the amount of salt, but you can easily fixe that by adding it to your pasta dish.

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Julia

	Cooking Level: Beginning
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Reviewed: Jul. 22, 2008

Still needs something.... more parm? more kick?

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klyaeger


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Reviewed: Jul. 21, 2008

I just made a very similar version of this pesto minus the chilli powder. Considering the positive feedback here, I may try it next time. To my recipe, I added heavy cream for variety and it was divine! So creamy and tasty. I used penne pasta for this dish and topped with fresh tomatoes, toasted pine nuts, and freshly grated parm cheese. YUM!

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PrincessDaBurgh

	Cooking Level: Expert Home Town: Hermitage, Pennsylvania, USA Living In: Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
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Reviewed: Jul. 21, 2008

I've made pesto with these basic ingredients before. The chili powder made this version a little different and I thought it gave the pesto a little extra flavor. I didn't have enough pine nuts so I also used some slivered almonds.

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AMYNTEXAS

	Cooking Level: Intermediate Living In: Fort Worth, Texas, USA
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Reviewed: Jul. 20, 2008

This was a pretty good pesto recipe. I made a few changes myself however. For one thing, I left out the chili powder. I like a traditional pesto and the thought of chili powder in it didn't sound appealing to me. Also, I used shelled pistachios in place of the pine nuts and brazil nuts. I've also substituted pine nuts as your recipe stated and walnuts to great effect. Thanks for the recipe!

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Reviewer:

Amara


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Reviewed: Jul. 16, 2008

I used walnuts instead of Brazil nuts then froze the leftovers in ice trays so I can use a perfect portion all year

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debbie


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Reviewed: Jul. 13, 2008

Hi, I'm from Genoa (Liguria) where pesto sauce was born. The recipe is fine and right but we don't use chili. A suggestion: use pesto as pasta sauce (better linguine or penne) and top with boiled potatoes and string beans.

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Roberto


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Reviewed: Jul. 8, 2008

This is really good. I only used one clove of garlic and about 1/2 the chili powder. I was a little reluctant to use chili powder, but was glad I did. I think more than one clove of garlic would be too much. I also ground a little sea salt in, which I thought added a bit more flavor. Will make again.

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scrunchymunchy


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Reviewed: Jun. 20, 2008

I never made my own pesto before and this was surprisingly easy, not to mention extremely good. Done in minutes. I used half the oil and used pine nuts only. I was hesitant about the chili powder, but ended up adding half at the end - really good! Used the entire batch on Pesto Cheesy Chicken Rolls, also on this site.

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Reviewer:

Tracy

	Cooking Level: Expert Living In: Eureka, Illinois, USA
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Reviewed: Apr. 13, 2008

took this to a wedding reception and it was a hit. Only thing I changed was omitted the brazil nuts and just added more toasted pine nuts.

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LITTLECHILE

	Cooking Level: Intermediate Home Town: Penticton, British Columbia, Canada Living In: Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
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Reviewed: Mar. 25, 2008

I followed the recipe to a T the first time I made this, I did not enjoy the taste of the Brazil nuts and found it extremely oily. On the second attempt, I omitted the Brazil nuts, used roasted pine nuts, and a lot less oil and found it much better tasting :) I suggest as others have, to add the parm cheese when ready to serve, otherwise it causes your pesto to spoil faster. Cheers!

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Reviewer:

Ravished

	Cooking Level: Professional Home Town: Seoul, Soul-T'ukpyolsi, South Korea
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Reviewed: Jan. 30, 2008

This was my first attempt at pesto and it was great! I too used walnuts instead of the brazil nuts and omitted the chili pepper. Yum!

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LDSGIRL

	Cooking Level: Intermediate Living In: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
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Reviewed: Dec. 11, 2007

Did not use chili powder, reduced olive down to about 2 tbsp, and added walnuts instead of brazil nuts... AWESOME PESTO!

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Reviewer:

Master Chef To Be

	Cooking Level: Beginning Living In: Okanagan, British Columbia, Canada
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Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2007

Pretty good! I used walnuts instead of brazil nuts.

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Reviewer:

TAMRAKAT

	Cooking Level: Intermediate Home Town: Northridge, California, USA Living In: San Jose, California, USA
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Reviewed: Nov. 3, 2007

Great! I didn't use Brazil nuts. I toasted the pine nuts before using. I didn't use 1 cup olive oil, I only used enough to give me the consistency I wanted. These flavors are great together.

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mommab


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Reviewed: Oct. 24, 2007

very easy to make, substituted almonds for the brazil nuts.

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fryebaby

	Cooking Level: Expert Living In: Indianapolis, Indiana, USA
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Reviewed: Oct. 24, 2007

This is a good pesto recipe. I modified it a little adding only pine nuts and not adding all that oil. I like my pesto to be more of a paste consistency. Sometimes I add a fresh tomato to substitute for part of the oil. I also added some black pepper and I always skip the chili powder.

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