Pesto

Pesto is a delicious Italian sauce that is amazingly versatile, and great to have in the fridge ready for when you are feeling lazy. Add a little pesto to pasta and dinner is done, or serve with grilled chicken to add flavour, delicious with roast vegetables or stir fried mushrooms and best of all, if you use it as a spread it can turn a boring lunchbox sandwich into a delicious meal you spend most of the morning looking forward to.

Pesto originally comes from Genoa in the Liguria region of Italy. Pesto is very simple to make, it is mostly fresh, delicious, fragrant, basil, pine nuts and olive oil and the only thing you need to make it is a blender, or if you have plenty of energy you could make it the old fashioned way, with a pestle and mortar.

Pesto tastes wonderfully fresh because of the garlic and basil, but the oil makes it rich and smooth, while the pine nuts and parmesan cheese add texture. Pesto is fantastic, it is full of olive oil which is the perfect type of fat to include in a healthy balanced diet. An Italian diet is rich in olive oil, and like the rest of the Mediterranean their diet of olive oil, fish and raw vegetables does wonders for your body and is great for a long healthy life and a strong heart.

Ingredients

• 30g parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
• 40g pine nuts, toasted
• 90ml olive oil
• 55g basil, only the leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

1. Put the parmesan, garlic and pine nuts into a food processor and season well.
2. Whiz together and pour the oil in until the pesto thickens.
3. Add a little basil at a time and blend until all the basil is mixed in.
4. Store in the fridge in a clean jar covered with a slick of oil to prevent it drying out.