Pesto

I had a strong fear of pesto for quite some time growing up.  I think part of the fear came from the first time I attempted to make it in high school.  I found a recipe that seemed simple enough and went to the store to find all the ingredients.  I remember being blown away by how expensive pine nuts were.  At the time it seemed like a necessary ingredient so I went along with the recipe and was underwhelmed by the results, probably because I was still steaming about how much I had to pay for a handful of nuts.

If it would have been up to me I probably wouldn't have given pesto a second thought, but since LJ loves all things pasta I was forced to make another attempt.  After our spectacular results with arugula pesto I felt confident in using walnuts in place of the traditional pine nuts.  In all honesty when I went to the store to round up the ingredients to make pesto I was looking for arugula instead of basil but was unable to locate any after making three laps through the produce section.

You might be thinking to yourself, "But wait Seth, buying basil is nearly as expensive as buying pine nuts," to which I would agree.  However I left confident I could find a use for any leftover basil (unlike pine nuts) and in the summer it is easy and inexpensive to grow your own basil.  You may also be able to find a farmers market or U-pick farm where you can score a good deal on a load of basil.

This post is getting a little long considering how simple the actual recipe is.  We enjoyed it with some gnocchi that we were able to pull out of the freezer.