Roasted Garlic Basil Pesto

"I developed this for a local contest and won! The roasting of the garlic and pine nuts is what does it. It makes a nuttier, mellow pesto without the raw garlic taste. My daughter and her friends like this better, too ....of course they're all kindergarten... :) but our friends from Italy approve too. (And dang, they are picky! But I love cooking for them :) Blanching the basil is optional, but recommended if you want to keep it for a bit or freeze it. (Mmmm....taste of summer in the dead of January....) I like to use this for chicken and pasta and maybe some pesto bread the next day, stirred into risotto,....you know the possibilities are endless!"
 
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photo by januarybride photo by januarybride
photo by januarybride
photo by Enjolinfam photo by Enjolinfam
photo by Sharon123 photo by Sharon123
Ready In:
45mins
Ingredients:
6
Yields:
1 1/2 cups
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ingredients

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directions

  • Slice the root end off the garlic and brush with some olive oil Roast garlic, wrapped in foil at 375 for about half an hour. It should be extremely soft and golden brown. Squeeze all the garlic from the cooled head to add to the recipe. (You can also just peel garlic and slowly saute in olive oil until golden.)
  • OPTIONAL STEP--- Have ready a bowl of ice water. In a saucepan of boiling salted water blanch basil, a handful at a time, 2 seconds, transferring with a slotted spoon to bowl of ice water to stop cooking. Drain basil in a sieve and pat dry. This prolongs the life of the pesto sauce and makes it better for freezing.
  • In a food processor or with an immersion blender, purée basil with remaining ingredients until smooth and season with salt and pepper. Makes about a cup and a half -- .

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Reviews

  1. This is an awesome Pesto. I was just adding the garlic raw to my recipe, but you're right, the roasting makes all the difference. One warning though. I learned the hard way that extra extra virgin olive oil have poly phenols that can turn your recipe bitter when emulsified. I used a light olive oil and it still came out awesome. I hear you can even use grapeseed oil, but i havent tried that yet. Thanks for the recipe...my niece is going to love it for her baby shower tomorrow!
     
  2. First of all, I have to say that my house smells AMAZING from the roasted garlic. I cleared off my basil plant to make this recipe and since it's the end of the season, unfortunately my plants are more light green than bright green. . .result is not as pretty pesto. I am going to use this for an appetizer (over brie) for a party Tuesday evening and I am also going to use some over ravioli for dinner tonight!
     
  3. Another of DeeCooks' wonderful garlic lover's recipe! I roasted my head of garlic and I followed step 2 to the letter. I enjoyed the teensiest bit of this today on a gourmet sandwich, and shall be enjoying the rest tonight on burgers. Today's sample was enough for me to know that I'll make the time to make this again, probably doubling it so that I can have it in the freezer as and when I want it. Loved the pinenuts in this. if you love pinenuts, make sure that you include them. Another great recipe, DeeCooks, which left me not wanting to add or change a thing! Thanks for sharing it. Made for 1-2-3 Hit Wonders.
     
  4. This is really good pesto! I used this as the sauce on some mini pizzas to take to a farewell party for a friend of ours. Thanks! Made for 1-2-3 Zaar Tag.
     
  5. This was very good! I halved the recipe and discovered my pine nuts had gone rancid, so left them out. It was still delicious! I used half on top of a veggie burger and the other half mixed in with some whole wheat angel hair pasta. Great both ways! Thank you Dee!
     
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RECIPE SUBMITTED BY

If I weren't a teacher, I'd be a chef. I love to cook, grew up cooking, had a fireman chef for a dad, and have spent most of my free time with cookbooks, food, entertaining, classes, study, and luckily I'm in one of the best food areas in the world! But...teaching is the absolute best job in the world. Don't tell anyone, but it's more like fun and you never get bored. My pet peeve is when people spell DEFINITELY wrong. I DEFINITELY don't want to read more reviews with DEFINITELY spelled wrong. But hey, I'm an English teacher :). My other pet peeve, food-wise, is "cream of whatever" soup. I think my mom OD'd us all on it when I was growing up. My biggest challenge in cooking was trying to learn FAST food. At an "older" age, I married, had a baby and have had to learn a new way to cook! No more leisurely hours to fix dinner for friends or an hour to put something together for me....! My daughter is seven now, opinionated, and it's a real challenge. Luckily she likes almost everything. And so does my sweetie. I loved seeing her horrified face at her first abalone fresh from the ocean (my husband dives for them occasionally...oh man, nothing better...) But she ate them and then slurped down some oysters!!! <img src="http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b399/susied214/permanent%20collection/Adopted1smp.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"> <img src="http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a254/Sharon123/NZT-2-AnnaciasZaarTagbanner.jpg" border="0" alt="Annacia's banner for Zaar Tag">
 
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