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: Aug. 5, 2011

Made this without the chili powder, using fresh organic basil and garlic from this week's CSA box. Amazing!

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

julie

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Home Town: Oakridge, Oregon, USA

Living In: Medford, Oregon, USA

Reviewed: Jul. 13, 2011

Fantastic pesto! I used macadamia nuts because my supermarket didn't have pine nuts in small quantities, and I omitted the Brazil nuts, but everything else stayed the same. It was great. Used it on "Pesto Hamburgers" from allrecipes and my husband said it was the best burger he's ever had.

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2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

T Roos

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Jul. 9, 2011

This is a great recipe! I made a couple small changes. I used 3/4 C of toasted pine nuts and no Brazil nuts. I doubled the minced garlic as I LOVE garlic and used 3/4 C of good Reggiano Parmesano. I was reluctant to try the chili powder but did and I didn't detect any chili flavor. I'm not really sure what the purpose of the chili powder is but there were no adverse effects. I will definitely make this again and again!!

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4 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Krista Ottino

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Living In: Hudson, Wisconsin, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 14, 2011

Followed other reviews and toasted pine nuts at 300f in oven for 10 minutes and then crushed/grinded them using the back of a spoon. Added them in at the very end (do not blend these in the machine ... found out the hard way that if you do it taste like grass). Left out brazil nuts (didn't have any) and will add cheese when I serve this since I'll be freezing the batch I made. Also added juice of half lemon for taste and to keep the color nice while frozen.

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3 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

apjuice

Home Town: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Living In: Atlanta, Georgia, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 14, 2011

In a word: fabulous. A very forgiving and versatile recipe. I've even used it to stuff small pork roasts along with provolone, red pepper and onion slices etc. Thank you for posting!

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2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Sammich

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Reviewed: Jun. 8, 2011

I made this after a bumper crop of Basil in my garden! It was awesome. I froze a bunch and gave some to my Aunt. She said it was to die for and wanted the recipe. My family and I thought it was awesome and are growing more Basil for another batch. I found the pine nuts to be expensive but also made another batch using almonds instead which also turned out good.

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

zac

Cooking Level: Expert

Home Town: Chugiak, Alaska, USA

Living In: Austin, Texas, USA

Reviewed: Jun. 7, 2011

Wow! I absolutely love this!! This is my first time making pesto from scratch and I tell you I am never going to buy store pesto again. I now know how easy it is to make this fresh and store it. I did not have any brazilian nuts so I used more pine nuts. The pesto leftovers I placed in an ice cube tray to freeze and will put in a ziplock bag later to store for later use. I think next time I will also toast the pine nuts first (roll around in a very hot pan until lightly brown) and then put in with the pesto to blend. I am so glad I found this recipe!

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Reviewer:

OkinawanPrincess

Cooking Level: Intermediate

Living In: Honolulu, Hawaii, USA

Reviewed: May 28, 2011

I cut the recipe in thirds and spread it over thin chicken breasts before rolling them up and baking. The pesto was the best part. Will be repeating this one as soon as my basil plant recovers from the harvest.

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2 users found this review helpful

Reviewer:

Margaret

Reviewed: Apr. 30, 2011

Quick and easy to make! The chilli powder isn't entirely necessary but nice if you want a bit of a kick.

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1 user found this review helpful

Reviewer:

jadetanya

Cooking Level: Beginning

Living In: Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Reviewed: Apr. 7, 2011

All I have to say is WOW. I left out the chili powder and substituted pecans for Brazil nuts and WOW. I'm sure it would be good the original way, but I only had pecans! The garlic really gave it a kick, so if you want it with more heat, up the garlic amount! The husband fired this down in minutes. Will definitely make this again soon and often!!

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2 users found this review helpful