Homemade pesto sauce is easy, delicious and so versatile. With this version I added avocado for an extra creamy consistency. I love eating pesto sauce over pasta which is how I did it in this video. So good!Visit my website: http://www.cooking-mexican-recipes.comMy Free Newsletter: http://www.cooking-mexican-recipes.com/food-ezine.htmlConnect with me on FACEBOOK yet? http://www.RobinInTheKitchen.comTWITTER: https://twitter.com/#!/Robin_Rockin Making pesto sauce from scratch couldn't be easier and only takes a few minutes, especially if you use a food processor, blender or emersion blender. If you want to do it the traditional way, you would use a pestle and mortar. You can buy basil in the store but I love growing it in my backyard. It's so easy to grow and it will save you a lot of money. One little batch at my grocery store costs about two dollars. Crazy right?I plant 2 or 3 plants and I've got all I need. Here are the ingredients for my creamy avocado pesto sauce:2 cups of packed, fresh basil, rinsed and dried (I used a salad spinner)1 avocado1/3 cup parmesan cheese, freshly grated, 1/4 cup raw pine nuts, toasted1 to 2 cloves of garlic, super fine diced1 to 2 tsp. of fresh lemon juice1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, add more for consistencysalt to tasteDirections:Pick your basil or buy it. Rinse it and then either let it air dry or put it in a salad spinner to dry. Pick leaves off the stems until you have 2 cups packed.Mince the garlic to what I call "super fine". I like to make the garlic really tiny so it spreads out throughout the sauce. I personally hate getting a big chunk of garlic. Next, toss the pine nuts into a dry frying pan over low heat. Watch them closely and turn them frequently. Cook until they are a nice golden brown. This is going to give your sauce a beautiful flavor.Once these are done, set them aside to cool for about 10 minutes before adding them to the pesto sauce.Pull out your food processor and place the basil leaves into it. Add the pine nuts and garlic and give it a whirl.Now add the avocado, salt and cheese. Slowly drizzle olive oil in to the sauce while you pulse the food processor. You will probably use more oil than 1/4 cup but it will depend on how the consistency turns out.Using an avocado to this makes the sauce thicker so you may end up using 1/3 to 1/2 cup oil so that it's not too thick. Play with it until you get the texture you like and is easy to disperse into the pasta.Next add the lemon juice. Don't over do it here as this is a pesto sauce and not a lemon sauce! The lemon juice is there to help keep the avocado from turning brown.Now transfer the pesto sauce to a double boiler or sauce pan to heat it up while you cook pasta noodles. You can you any pasta noodles you like. In the video I used Rotini noodles.Once the noodles are done, drain them and add pesto sauce and toss to combine. Enjoy!Also if you want to make just a basil pesto sauce, leave out the avocado and lemon. Simple.You can make big batches of homemade pesto sauce and freeze it. Then you can have it all year long. Pesto sauce can be use in a million ways too and not just with pasta. You can use as a sandwich spread, in a grilled cheese, or a quesadilla or in a dressing. You can also use it as a sauce to bake chicken or with roasted potatoes. Try it out and experiment. Let me know what you come up with in the comments below.Want to try another pasta dish? Try my pasta with bacon, tomato and onion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCKiN2r81xwBig thanks to all who like and share my videos! Thanks for watching!Rockin RobinP.S. Please help me spread the word about my channel and website by sharing my content on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Google Plus and any other social media you like to use. It's as simple as copying and pasting this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plluvBautBAMusic by Kevin MacLead http://incompetech.com/. License terms:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/legalcode
