- Pesto is one of the easiest
things that you can make
to dramatically enhance
the flavor of anything.
Vegetables, beef, pork,
chicken, you name it,
but we are gonna hook it up
with some homemade pasta.
And maybe I'll throw in a
little somethin' else at the end
just to give you a little surprise.
I have no clue what kind of Italian I am
that I don't even have
pesto on my YouTube channel
or my website so it is long overdue.
Super, super, simple to
make, can't say it enough.
We're gonna knock out a little bit of prep
with some pine nuts first, sound good?
Let's cook.
So in a medium-sized
saucepan we are gonna add in
some raw pine nuts and
use the back of your hand
to sort of press it down so
it's only one layer thick.
We're going right over to your cooktop
and we're gonna immediately
turn the heat onto low though.
Make sure it is on low heat
'cause these can burn very easily.
And what I'm gonna do is sort of stir fry
these a little bit, move the pan around.
Get a spoon in there.
What we want to do is get a
very nice light brown on these
and the color will change
from sort of creamy
more to a yellowy-type color,
just like you see here.
You've got that perfect
little light brown on them.
Excellent, let's go ahead and
remove them from the heat.
I'm just gonna simply set these
to the side in a little bowl.
You're probably gonna
have a little bit extra,
which is great because it
goes awesome on other things.
I'm going to stop and say this.
Now that the pine nuts are done toasting,
do not eat raw pine nuts.
Here's a little personal experience.
I ate some one time and every
single time I ate anything
after that for about three to four weeks,
it had a very bitter aftertaste.
I seriously thought everything
had just gone wrong.
No matter what I ate, no matter
if it was something sweet,
something savory, at the
end it was super bitter.
So take it from me, don't
eat these raw, got it?
And now it's time to
pick some fresh basil.
You have to use fresh in this recipe,
you cannot use dried, so if
you grow this in the garden,
and often times it can
completely takeover your garden,
or you just happen to have a ton of it
from the grocery store,
this is such a great recipe to
use all that fresh basil up.
So go ahead and pick the leaves off.
Do not use the stems in this,
it will make your pesto a
little bit bitter and chunky,
and we do not want that.
Go ahead and add it to a
bowl and next we are going
right over to a food processor.
Of course, if you wanna go old school
and do a pestle and mortar,
that is totally up to you.
Me, I'm all about ease
and comfort these days,
so food processor it is.
Next I'm going to add in
the squeeze of one lemon.
I'm just using my other hand to catch
any seeds that might fall in there.
This is gonna add a
little acid and flavor,
as well as keep the color nice and green.
Next hit it with a few
small garlic cloves.
And then I'm going to add in
some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.
Gonna add an amazing flavor and of course,
help make it nice and creamy.
We're gonna add in those pine
nuts that we just toasted off.
Yes, I did set them to
the side 'cause I got
another use for those at a later time.
And now what we want
to do is add the top on
and then begin to pulse it.
We're gonna get it to these vary finely,
rough chopped pieces.
This is just going to help this
when it comes time to add in the oil.
We're not trying to get it to this perfect
consistency with the oil.
So once it is here, you
can see it looks excellent.
This is exactly the stage you wanna be at.
We are gonna season it up at this point
with some fresh sea salt and what this is
gonna do is obviously
add a lot of flavor here
and compliment everything.
Next we're gonna grate
in some Pecorino Romano.
This part is completely optional.
It is salty so you are gonna get
a little bit more here
to add into this pesto.
Again, that part is optional.
You can go all Parmesan
cheese, totally up to you.
We're gonna add the top back on.
We're gonna go back to
pulsing, but at this time,
we're gonna drizzle in some
extra virgin olive oil.
This is what is sort of
gonna help make this a sauce.
You can see it's already
starting to look creamy here.
Slowly drizzle it in, do
not just dump it in there
because the sauce could
potentially break at this point.
So now what we wanna
do is just take it off
and let's have a look.
Better to pour in a little bit at a time
than go all in and it be liquidy.
And try it out, get a spoon in there.
Take a little taste.
Make sure that it's excellent and yes,
it is very good my friends.
And you've just made homemade
pesto, congratulations.
Like I always say,
Comeys and everyone else,
it's all about understanding
these fundamental,
basic techniques like making pesto,
squeezing lemon juice in there
to help preserve the color,
give it a little acid.
You start putting this
into all of your recipes,
then all of your homemade
food from scratch
is gonna taste way
better, I'm tellin' you.
Better than the stores.
Better than the restaurants.
You name it, this is so delicious.
But now that we've got all this pesto,
what should we do with it?
How about make some pasta?
So I've got a large pot of boiling water
and per usual I'm gonna
season it up with salt.
It should taste like the ocean,
just in case you were wondering.
And I definitely have some
homemade pasta sitting around.
Check out that recipe.
You can certainly use
dried pasta if you'd like,
but there's nothing, I
mean nothing my friends,
like fresh homemade pasta.
It takes only two to
three minutes to cook.
If you're using dry,
probably eight to 10 minutes.
Using some tongs just move it around
so that nothing is sticking.
This is the motion that I like to use.
And then go ahead and
let's drain off the noodles
with my little strainer that
I have already in the pot.
This is perfect, going over
to a countertop in a bowl.
We're not gonna put it in a hot pan
because the sauce can
break, the pesto that is.
And just hit with some of that pesto.
It takes about two to
three tablespoons of pesto
to every four ounces of dried pasta,
just as a rule of thumb
in case you're wondering.
We're gonna add a good amount on there.
And then of course I'm
going to season it up
with some sea salt and
fresh cracked black pepper.
Season once, taste twice, remember.
Go back over to the pot, grab
some of that hot pasta water.
Put it in there, this is gonna
help loosen everything up
a little bit, but still enough
that it sticks to the pasta.
And let me say it again.
You do not need to drown
this pasta in pesto.
A little bit will make
sure this tastes great.
Now of course, let's plate up in slow-mo.
I'm just gonna serve this in a small bowl.
Fresh pasta is always really rich
and I can never eat quite as much
as my eyes like to think they would.
And just fold it over.
This sort of just gives
it a little bit of height.
You know me, I'm all about the plate up.
And once it's at that point,
I'm gonna grate in a little
bit more Pecorino Romano.
If you want you can use Parmesan cheese.
I like a little bit more
salt, so hey, that's just me.
Looks amazing, right?
Everything's fantastic, but
what if you want some protein?
Maybe I've got some chicken lying around.
So I happen to have a few
cooked chicken breasts.
If you wanna save some time if you've got
a rotisserie chicken,
hallelujah , use that.
It's all about ease my
friends, and comfort.
So I'm just going to roughly chop this up.
Gonna throw it right over into the bowl
with the leftover pesto pasta.
Give it a few tosses.
Looks excellent.
It's a great way to add
a little bit of protein,
and man, check out this beauty.
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So delicious, so simple to make.
You need to make this tonight.
Like this video, subscribe to my channel.
Of course, check out this
video 'cause it is so good,
and I'll see you on there.
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