Walnut Pesto

We have a pot of herbs and vegetables on our terrace that has looked less then stellar all summer.  My feeble attempt to grow zucchini, oregano, parsley, habanero peppers and chives was really quite pathetic.  However, my basil is so lush and beautiful, I can't come up with enough recipes to use it all up. Seriously, I'm not sure we even watered this plant for the past two weeks and it's still humongous.

I made this pesto for the first time last week and feel that I may be making 10 more batches to freeze before the first frost comes.  I used a little magic bullet type blender and it worked perfectly.  I served this batch with some homemade linguine, I'll post that recipe soon!

Walnut Pesto

1 garlic clove

1/4 cup chopped walnuts, lightly toasted

Juice and zest of one lemon

Kosher salt

freshly ground black pepper

1/12 cups of basil leaves

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1) Place the garlic in a blender or food processor and process until finely chopped. 

2) Add the walnuts and process until finely ground. (Be careful not to over-process the nuts or you will have garlicky walnut butter!) Add the lemon juice and zest, salt and pepper, basil and Parmesan cheese and pulse until well-blended

3) Add the olive oil and process until smooth and bright green.  Taste the pesto, adding more salt and pepper if needed.