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Southern Summer Pesto Recipe

Here's a new twist on the classic pesto made with pine nuts or walnuts: basil with pecans. The slightly sweet, lighter taste of the pecans complements the full taste and aroma of the basil. This recipe uses more leaves and more nuts and less cheese than my standard pesto recipe, making it better for your body and for your pocketbook. If you live where pecans grow but walnuts and pine nuts don't, this will also appeal to your inner locavore.

Active time: 18 minutes. Makes 16 servings, ¼ cup each.

Ingredients

6 ounces parmesan cheese, grated
8 cloves garlic
4 cups tightly-packed basil leaves
3 cups shelled pecans
2 teaspoons salt
2 cups olive oil
pepper and more salt, to taste

Method

1. Rinse basil well in a bowl of water. Let it soak until needed.

2. Grate parmesan if needed.

3. Peel garlic. Set up your food processor with the cutting blade or use a blender. Turn the machine on and drop the garlic in while the blade is turning. Turn off when garlic is minced, after about 10 seconds.

4. Rinse the basil well and pat dry with towel. Remove stems and put leaves in food processor or blender. Put pecans and salt on top of leaves. Process until finely chopped but still a bit rough.

5. With the machine going, slowly pour in olive oil.

6. Stop the machine and add parmesan cheese. Process briefly to mix. Taste. Add salt and pepper as needed.

7. To serve, stir pesto into hot cooked pasta or spread on bread or crackers. Eat warm or at room temperature. Refrigerate or freeze any extra.

Tips and notes

• Spread out the expenses when making a big batch to freeze by leaving out the cheese. When ready to use, thaw pesto and stir in grated cheese.