Hey presto, it's Pesto!

I always debated why it was called "Holy Basil" until I tasted Pesto. Sure it's holy, divine, good, great, gorgeous and oh, so, green! My favourite condiment / sauce or whatever you prefer to call it.

Pesto - The best edible use of basil!

I don't like the industrial Pesto we find in super-markets. Colour me traditional, but for me Pesto is all about hand pounded the traditional Genovese way using a mortar and pestle. And a slight variation to suit my taste buds.

Ingredients:

Fresh Basil - 1 bunch. Approx 300 grams.
Garlic Cloves - 10. I love garlic and I like my pesto garlicky.
Walnuts - 100 grams. I take a standard 1/3rd of basil ratio here.
Virgin Olive Oil - 50-70 ml. Use more or less to get your own desired consistency.
Lemon Juice - I used 1/2 lemon's juice - I like little citrus flavour.
Salt - a little, to taste.
Cheese - 2 Table Spoons. Strictly optional. I didn't use it anyway.

I pounded my way to green, gorgeous glory! It's worth it!

Procedure:

• Roll up sleeves.
• Put some nice country music.
• Pound everything togetheir till you get a nice, fine, ground, green and chunky consistency. Don't add all oil in one go, keep adding in increments to your taste and desired consistency. I like a nice drizzle of olive oil on top of pesto!

That's it. Simple and divine. People recommend adding powdered hard cheese, preferably parmesan, but I don't like it. Also, I've used Walnuts instead of traditional Pine nuts because I like the nutty flavour or Walnuts and I didn't have Pine nuts. Use Toasted nuts if you like nutty flavour.

Spoon over some nice and warm pasta or freshly toasted bread!