So, I have been remiss in my post on pesto, as some friends have pointed out. The funny thing with my cooking: I rarely follow a typical order of recipe. Rather, I have learned principles and flavor profiles that I simply try to recreate on a budget and in a non-eccentric manner.

But…do follow my recipe and share it. [That red and white braid is a St. Philomena cord: find one here: Amazon US, Amazon UK].

Pistachio Pesto

Makes 1.5 cups serving 6 over pasta (110 g of pasta per person).

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1 cup fresh spinach leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh grated Parmesan-Reggiano cheese
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Juice of half a lemon
• 1/3 cup pistachios (a ton of possibilities with this: pine nuts as traditional, walnuts, cashews, combination) [But don’t do almonds, strange]
• 3 garlic cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped pistachios

1. Place the juice of half a lemon, basil, spinach, salt and pepper, and 1/3 cup pistachios into the bowl of a food processor and pulse a several times. If you are using a NutriBullet or something similar [find yours here: Amazon US and Amazon UK and Amazon.it], add the olive oil in this batch.
2. Add the garlic and Parmesan and Pecorino cheese and pulse several times more. Scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. If using a nutribullet, make sure the olive oil is dispersed and allowed to emulsify the other ingredients.
3. In a food processor, slowly stream in the olive oil. You may have to stop and scrape down the sides to have an evenly pulsed pesto.
4. Taste and adjust salt and pepper, to taste, and fold in the 1/3 cup of roughly chopped pistachios.

You can use this on pasta (I like to use a milky fresh mozzarella chopped in skinny strips and folded in the warm pasta), a dressing on sandwiches, or to dollop on baked potatoes. I LOVE PESTO!