Best Fresh Pesto Recipes

FRESH BASIL PESTO

Steps:

• Combine basil, oil, pine nuts, garlic, and lemon juice in a food processor or blender; puree until smooth. Stir in Pecorino Romano cheese, salt, and pepper.

GNOCCHI WITH CHICKEN, PESTO AND FRESH MOZZARELLA

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a saucepan. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper; cook and stir in the hot oil until no longer pink in the middle, 7 to 10 minutes. Remove chicken to a bowl using a slotted spoon, retaining drippings in the pan.
• Pour chicken broth into the saucepan. Bring broth to a boil while scraping the browned bits of food off of the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon; continue cooking until the broth reduces in volume by about half, 7 to 10 minutes. Return cooked chicken to the saucepan. Stir pesto through the chicken mixture; remove from heat.
• Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil. Cook gnocchi at a boil until they float to the top, about 3 minutes. Remove gnocchi from the water to a large bowl using a slotted spoon, retaining water in the pot.
• Place the saucepan with the chicken and pesto over the boiling water; cook and stir over the boiling water until warmed completely, about 5 minutes. Pour chicken and pesto mixture over the gnocchi; add mozzarella and stir until evenly mixed.

FRESH BASIL PESTO - FREEZER DIRECTIONS

Steps:

• Put the basil, garlic, pine nuts, and salt in a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Drizzle olive oil. Taste and add more salt if needed.
• If freezing: line ice cube trays with plastic wrap. Scoop pesto into trays using 1-2 tablespoons of pesto per "cube." Freeze. Put in ziplock after solid. To use: Thaw and add cheese.
• If using fresh: Add the cheese and process a few seconds until just incorporated.
• Enough pesto for a pound of pasta and recommended it tossed with linguine, capellini or meat or cheese tortellini.

FRESH PESTO SHRIMP PASTA

Steps:

• For the pesto: In a food processor, puree the nuts, garlic and 2 tablespoons olive oil until smooth. Next, add the basil and mint and pulse until the leaves are minced. Add the cheese and pulse 4 to 5 times. Finally, drizzle in the remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil to finish.
• For the pasta: In saute pan over high heat, add the grapeseed oil and allow to come to the verge of smoking. Next, add the shrimp and reduce the heat to medium. Continue to cook the shrimp until medium doneness, about 2 minutes, stirring throughout the time. After the shrimp are medium, add the onions and allow to cook until translucent, another 2 minutes. Add 1/4 cup pesto, stir, and then deglaze the pan with the white wine. Add the heavy cream and allow to reduce by half the volume, 2 to 3 minutes. Finally, add the pasta and stir. Finish seasoning with salt, pepper and additional wine if necessary. Allow to warm for 2 minutes, and then portion and serve. Top with the parsley and tomatoes.

SOFT SCRAMBLED EGGS WITH PESTO AND FRESH RICOTTA

Steps:

• Over medium-high heat, melt butter in a medium-size skillet, preferably well-seasoned cast iron or nonstick.
• Beat eggs with salt, pepper and, if using, Parmesan cheese. Pour eggs into pan, swirl and turn heat to low. Using a heat-proof rubber spatula, stir eggs constantly until very loosely set and slightly runnier than you like them.
• Remove pan from heat and drizzle pesto on eggs. Off heat, give eggs one more gentle stir -- enough to finish cooking them and to distribute pesto in dark green streaks. Scatter ricotta on eggs and drizzle with more pesto if desired. Serve at once.

(RAW) ANGEL-HAIR ZUCCHINI "PASTA" WITH FRESH PESTO

Steps:

• Using a vegetable peeler or a spiral vegetable slicer, slice the outer zucchini flesh into lenthwise strips, discaring any seeds.
• Stack the strips and then slice them into thinner "noodles".
• Place the zucchini noodles in a medium bowl and add chopped tomato, olive oil, sea salt, and pepper.
• Place all pesto ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth, with just a few nuts visible for texture.
• Gently toss the zucchini and tomato mixture with just enough pesto to coat.
• Season with additional salt and pepper if desired.
• Garnish with pine nuts and basil leaves and serve.

ORZO WITH FRESH PEAS AND MINT PESTO

Steps:

• Combine first 6 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. With the machine running, slowly add the olive oil until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Place the orzo in a large bowl and combine with the pesto. Fold in the peas and season with salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with fresh parsley.

FRESH PESTO PIZZA

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
• Remove crust from wrapper and spread pesto over crust; top with a layer of spinach leaves, chopped tomato, shredded mozzarella cheese and feta cheese. Place pizza on a baking sheet.
• Bake pizza in the preheated oven until the spinach leaves are wilted and the cheese is melted, bubbling, and beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes.

TAGLIATELLE WITH FRESH CORN PESTO

Steps:

• Cook bacon in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until crisp and brown, stirring often. Using slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon drippings from skillet. Add corn, garlic, 1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt, and 3/4 teaspoon pepper to drippings in skillet. Sauté over medium-high heat until corn is just tender but not brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer 1 1/2 cups corn kernels to small bowl and reserve. Scrape remaining corn mixture into processor. Add 1/2 cup Parmesan and pine nuts. With machine running, add olive oil through feed tube and blend until pesto is almost smooth. Set pesto aside.
• Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until just tender but still firm to bite, stirring occasionally. Drain, reserving 1 1/2 cups pasta cooking liquid. Return pasta to pot. Add corn pesto, reserved corn kernels, and 1/2 cup basil leaves. Toss pasta mixture over medium heat until warmed through, adding reserved pasta cooking liquid by 1/4 cupfuls to thin to desired consistency, 2 to 3 minutes. Season pasta to taste with salt and pepper.
• Transfer pasta to large shallow bowl. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 cup basil leaves and reserved bacon. Serve pasta, passing additional grated Parmesan alongside.

LINGUINE WITH FRESH SALMON AND PESTO SAUCE

Steps:

• Remove and discard all tough stems from the basil. Put 2 cups of the basil leaves in the container of a food processor. Add the 1/2 cup of oil, pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper. Blend well to a fine texture. Add the cheese, and blend quickly.
• Cut the salmon on the diagonal into 1-inch thick slices.
• Lightly salt the water, and cook the linguine until al dente. Drain, but reserve 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Return the pasta to the pot in which it was cooked. Add half of the pesto sauce, the reserved cooking liquid, salt and pepper. Blend well, and keep warm.
• Meanwhile, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of oil to a nonstick skillet large enough to hold the salmon in one layer. Add the salmon slices, and season with salt, pepper and pepper flakes. Cook, stirring about 1 minute. Add the shallots, cook and stir 1 minute more. Keep warm.
• Divide the linguine equally on each of 4 serving plates. Spoon equal portions of the salmon mixture over each, and drizzle the remaining pesto sauce over all. Garnish with the remaining 1/3 cup basil leaves. Serve immediately.

PESTO BAKED CHICKEN WITH FRESH ASPARAGUS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400°F Line a rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil.
• Slice boneless skinless chicken breasts in to ½-inch wide pieces. Place on an aluminum foil-covered baking sheet. Brush each piece with pesto and sprinkle Italian breadcrumbs over the top. Mist with olive oil cooking spray.
• Break off the tough ends of the asparagus, and lay the stalks out on a second baking sheet. Mist with olive oil cooking spray, and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
• Place both baking sheets in the oven at the same time, with the chicken on the middle rack and the asparagus on the upper rack. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the asparagus is tender but still crisp.
• This dish was created by Walmart Mom, Tara Kuczykowski.

PIZZA WITH PESTO, FRESH TOMATOES, AND MOZZARELLA

Steps:

• At least 1 hour before baking pizza, set stone on lowest rack of oven (if you have a gas stove, stone can go directly on oven floor) and preheat oven to 500°F.
• Coarsely grate mozzarella and cut tomatoes crosswise into 1/8-inch-thick slices. On a floured surface with your hands pat out and stretch dough evenly into a 12-inch round, keeping hands flat. (Do not handle dough more than necessary. If dough is sticky, dust it lightly with flour.)
• Dust baker's peel with flour and carefully transfer inch round. Jerk peel once or twice and, if dough is sticking, lift dough and sprinkle flour underneath it, reshaping dough if necessary. Spread pesto over dough leaving a 1-inch border and sprinkle with cheese. Arrange tomato slices over cheese and season with salt and pepper.
• Line up far edge of peel with far edge of stone and tilt peel, jerking it gently to start pizza moving. Once edge of pizza touches stone, quickly pull back peel to completely transfer pizza to stone. Bake pizza until dough is crisp and brown, about 10 to 12 minutes, and transfer with peel to a cutting board.
• Cut pizza into slices and serve immediately.

FRESH LASAGNE WITH PESTO

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Put the milk, butter and flour in a medium pan and cook over a medium heat, whisking until thickened and smooth. Simmer for 1 minute. Take off the heat, season and add the nutmeg. Cool, stirring occasionally to stop a skin forming.
• Put the spinach in a large heatproof bowl, pour over a kettle of boiling water and leave for 30 seconds. Drain into a colander, cool under the cold tap then squeeze it well to remove the excess liquid.
• Spread a spoonful or two of the sauce on the bottom of a large ovenproof dish (about 30x20cm) and lay a third of the lasagne on top. Spoon over a third of the sauce and spread it out. Swirl a spoonful of pesto through the sauce with a knife and scatter over half the spinach with a third of the tomatoes, a few basil leaves and a third of the cheeses. Season with salt and pepper. Layer another third of the lasagne with a third of the sauce, a spoonful of pesto, the rest of the spinach, a third of the tomatoes and cheeses and some basil. Season.
• Finish with a layer of lasagne, the last of the sauce, pesto, cheeses and the tomatoes, including those on the vine. Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden. Scatter with the last of the basil leaves and serve.

FRESH BASIL PARSLEY PESTO

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in food processor.
• Cover and puree until smooth.
• Refrigerate for several weeks, or freeze for 6 months.
• Toss with hot pasta.

FRESH FIG, MASCARPONE, AND PESTO TORTE

Steps:

• Make crust
• Preheat oven to 325° F. and butter a 10-inch springform pan.
• In a bowl with a fork stir together crust ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. Press mixture into bottom of pan and bake in middle of oven 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
• Make filling
• In a bowl with an electric mixer beat together filling ingredients and salt and pepper to taste until very smooth.
• Assemble torte
• Pour half of filling into crust. Drop dollops of pesto over filling and spread carefully to form an even topping. (Some filling may show through.) Top pesto layer with half of fig slices, overlapping them slightly, and pour remaining filling over figs, spreading evenly. Bake torte in middle of oven 1 hour and 10 minutes, or until top is golden brown and set. Cool torte in pan on a rack (filling will deflate slightly). Chill torte, covered loosely, at least 3 hours and up to 2 days.
• In a small saucepan stir together preserves and vinegar and bring to a simmer. Remove pan from heat and cool mixture. Stir in salt to taste.
• Slice remaining pound figs into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Run a thin knife around edge of pan and remove side. Spread torte with preserves mixture, leaving a 1/4-inch border, and top decoratively with remaining fig slices. With 2 large metal spatulas transfer torte to a serving plate.
• Serve torte at room temperature to spread on toasts.

RISOTTO WITH FRESH BASIL-MINT PESTO

Steps:

• PESTO: In a food processor or blender, combine the basil leaves, mint, garlic and lemon zest. Blend until smooth. Add the salt and pine nuts, pulsing until nuts are chopped.
• With motor running, slowly drizzle the lemon juice and 2 tablespoons olive oil through the feed tube until you have a smooth puree.
• Season pesto to taste with pepper and set aside. Pesto can be prepared up to 4 hours in advance. For best results, do not freeze.
• RISOTTO: In a saucepan, heat the remaining olive oil over medium-high heat. Saute the shallots until soft, approximately 2 minutes. Next, add the arborio rice, cooking until grains are opaque and "glisten", about another 2 minutes. Be careful not to burn the rice, reducing heat if necessary!
• {{Slowly}} stir in 1 cup hot broth. Once broth is absorbed, add more broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring the rice constantly. Stir until liquid is absorbed.
• For the next step, add the boiling water in the same manner as the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium. Stop adding water when rice is almost done- or "al dente". (That means you may or may not use all of the boiling water.).
• When rice is al dente, continue stirring constantly. Rice should look moist and not dried out;- the grains creamy looking.
• Keep stirring the arborio rice until thick and creamy about 5 minutes more.
• Season to taste with salt and freshly cracked black pepper.
• To serve, divide the cooked risotto among 4 bowls and stir in 1/4 cup of the pesto into each bowl.
• Serve the Parmesan cheese on the side, if desired.

CREAM CHEESE AND PESTO BRUSCHETTA WITH FRESH BASIL

Steps:

• 1. Wash and cut each tomato into quarters. Place in a pan with a tiny drizzle of olive oil. Allow to cook covered on medium heat for 1 min. Turn the tomatoes and cook for 1 min on each side. Drizzle more oil if you find it necessary. Cook until the tomatoes begin to soften but don't over cook them. Once ready, set aside.
• 2. Toast the bread in toaster or oven if you are making more than two people.
• 3. Spread the creme cheese equally between the slices.
• 4. Add a layer of pesto sauce over the creme cheese topped by 2 pieces of tomatoes.
• 5. Garnish with some freshly chopped basil leaves or some basil flowers, some toasted pine nuts or simply some toasted sunflower seeds. Enjoy

FRESH MOZZARELLA BLT WITH PESTO

Steps:

• Slice the baguette open, leaving one side attached to form a hinge. Cook the bacon in a skillet over low heat until crispy; drain on paper towels.
• Combine the pesto with the mayonnaise and smear on the bottom part of the bread. Layer the romaine on the bread, then the tomato, bacon and mozzarella. Season with salt and pepper; close the sandwich and wrap in parchment paper.

FRESH PESTO - PIONEER WOMAN RECIPE - (4.4/5)

Steps:

• Add basil leaves to a food processor or blender. Throw in grated Parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, salt, and pepper. Turn on the food processor and drizzle in enough olive oil to get it to the consistency you want. To store pesto, add a thin layer of extra olive oil to the top (to prevent any air from getting to it), cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 to 2 weeks. (You can also freeze up to 1 month). Uses for pesto: * Used it as a pizza sauce: just spread it on the pizza crust as you would regular pizza sauce. Especially perfect with veggie pizza or chicken pizza. Yum. * Stirred it into quiche filling. The quiche was filled with leeks, mushrooms, and Swiss cheese...a generous tablespoon of pesto completely transformed it. * Mixed it with heavy cream and poured it over pasta a fresh tomatoes. A triumph. * Stirred it into a chicken pasta salad: bowtie pasta, chicken chunks, lima beans, peas, carrots, corn, with a mayo/sour cream/half-and-half dressing. A generous addition of basil made it over-the-top irresistible. * Mixed it with mayonnaise for a perfect panini spread. Grilled chicken. Tomato slices. Chopped olives. Pesto mayonnaise. And the girl was so, so happy. * Added a generous amount to the sauce for my chicken parmigiana last night. A tablespoon wasn't enough. Two tablespoons wasn't enough. I think I wound up adding about 1/3 cup before it was all over...and the sauce was better than ever. I closed my eyes and gave thanks for basil.

FRESH ROSEMARY CHICKEN WITH PESTO PASTA!

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 350. Place Chicken breasts in a plastic zip-lock bag. In a small bowl, combine olive oil, rosemary, oregano, basil, 1 tablespoon garlic, salt and pepper. Whisk together.
• 2. Pour marinade over chicken in bag, zip shut, and mix together so all chicken gets coated. Place in the fridge for 15 or so minutes.
• 3. Meanwhile, begin cooking pasta (follow box instructions).
• 4. Slice bread loaf into medium sized slices and lay out on a cooking sheet. Lightly coat (both sides) with olive oil. On top, place a small amount of butter, small amount of garlic, salt, and pepper, and then heavily coat with cheese.
• 5. Take chicken out of the fridge and place in a sprayed 9 x 13. top with extra Rosemary sprigs and whole basil leaves. Place chicken on a middle oven rack, and the bread slices on a bottom rack. Cook chicken for 25-30 minutes, until juice runs clear and it appears done. Watch the bread so as the cheese melt and the bread toasts, but does not burn! not an exact time on this!
• 6. Take 1/2 jar of sundried tomatoes and mix with 1/2 jar of pesto sauce. When the pasta is done cooking, strain it and mix with pesto/tomato mixture.
• 7. Serve whole chicken breasts on top of pesto pasta with sun dried tomatoes and bread on the side. ENJOY!