Here is, simply put, one of my favorite recipes.

Fresh basil is in season during the summer months, though in many produce stores it is available year-round. This is a very basic recipe, made in a blender. Of course, you can use the more traditional marble mortar and pestle, but it's a lot more work!

This sauce works well with extra-virgin olive oil, because it is not heated (and should never be). But extra-virgin is not really necessary; any olive oil can work. Also, it freezes well.

There are many variations of this recipe, and I will mention a few in the notes that follow. But for now, here is Vitelli's formula for crowd-pleasing basil pesto:

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
½ cup olive oil (or slightly more, if necessary)
2 good-sized garlic cloves, smashed
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
Freshly ground black pepper (optional)
Pignoli (pine) nuts (optional)
Grated cheese (parmesan, romano, or mixture of both)
1 lb. pasta

Preparation

Wash the basil, and get rid of any dirt. Dry on paper towels, and remove the stems and discard. Tear the larger leaves into smaller pieces. Pack the basil leaves fairly firmly in your measuring cup, but don't go crazy over it! Peel the garlic (That's right, SC, peel them! Every last clove!), remove the dried ends, and flatten them by pressing them with the flat part of a large knife or cleaver. Put the basil in your blender, then add the garlic, salt, a few grindings of pepper (optional) and - last of all - the olive oil. Now grind up everything by using short pulses of the blender. Periodically stop and, using a long knife or spatula, scrape the leaf fragments from the walls of the blender and push them down towards the bottom. You can add a little more olive oil (not when the blender is on!) if your mixture is too thick. But is should be reasonably thick. Don't over-blend; stop when everything just starts to mix evenly.

Divide into serving-size portions. This can vary according to your preferences, and how many are being served. Let's say, ½ cup of pesto for the 1 lb. of pasta you will be making. Save the rest.

If you are using pignolis, you can add them to the pesto as follows: Lightly toast around 1 Tbs in a dry skillet (this part is optional - you can certainly use them untoasted). When cooled, roughly crush them in a mortar and pestle or - and this is what I do - put them in a Ziploc bag, get rid of the air, and crush them by rolling a glass jar over the bag until properly pulverized.

Now, cook your pasta.

As it's merrily boiling away, take 2 or 3 Tbs of the water and add it to the pesto. Wait a minute or two, then add the crushed pignolis, and lastly, the grated cheese. Around 2 - 3 Tbs will do (much more than that will make the pesto too thick). Stir everything together.

Drain the pasta, then return it to the pot. Toss thoroughly with the pesto, then serve.

Serves 4, more or less. (Actually, if I'm making it, it serves 1!)

Notes to the Chef

When buying fresh basil, look for firm, brightly colored crisp leaves. Avoid bunches that are sagging, wilted, or where the leaves are starting to blacken or otherwise discolor. If the leaves are riddled with holes or look eaten away, run in the opposite direction. Small imperfections can (and do) occasionally turn up, even in the best of bunches, and these bad parts can be removed when you are washing and preparing your basil leaves for the blender.

Basil pesto goes very well with chicken or seafood.

It's difficult to say precisely, how large a "serving" is; everyone has different preferences here.

Almost any type of pasta can be used. It's an equal-opportunity sauce.

Garlic: I love the stuff, but not everyone loves it as much as I do. I have given you the "2 clove" version. If you are really brave (or aren't doing anything around people for the next few days), you can add another clove.

Salt: Of course, if you are on a low-salt diet, you can reduce the salt - or omit it entirely.

Pepper: If you are going to add a little pepper to the pesto, use freshly ground pepper from peppercorns. All my life I hated black pepper, until I discovered how different the freshly-ground stuff tastes. Absolutely no comparison! Blended peppercorns can also be used, BTW.

If you are going to refrigerate or freeze pesto, do not add the pasta water, pignolis or cheese. Save that until you actually prepare your meal. Pesto will keep (covered) 2-3 days in the refrigerator, anything longer than that, it's safer to freeze it. Once frozen, it will keep for months and months. Here's my freezing technique: I usually freeze portions in 9 oz. plastic cold drink cups - I fill the cups about halfway with the freshly-blended pesto. Then I cover the tops of the cups with Saran Wrap, then aluminum foil over the Saran Wrap. A piece of masking tape holds everything in place. I can now thaw them as needed. (BTW, I always label everything I freeze, making sure to include the date. The masking tape is a handy place for this info.)

A pesto can be made with many other ingredients, not just basil alone. Common variations are parsley, sun-dried tomatoes, arugula, and lots of other things.

Stay away from those powdered sauce mixes that say "pesto" - they have virtually no relation to (or similarity to) this recipe. (Infamia!) They are mostly salt, anyway. Most stuff in a jar is no better, IMO. Occasionally, you can find decent stuff in the supermarket's refrigerated section. Buitoni and Contadina used to make acceptable ones (IIRC), but these can get ridiculously expensive and are loaded with other ingredients (and often-times chemical preservatives) that you really don't need. It doesn't cost a lot to make a good, Italian homemade pesto sauce - and you'll see that the results are definitely worth the effort.

Enjoy!

Signor V.