Maybe the brazil nuts would have really made it

I made pesto for the first time tonight.  Let me just outline for you how clueless this made me feel. 

Can I use a blender? 

There’s no way I’m pulling out that food processor I’ve used three times since we got it as a wedding present.  I’m using YouTube to see if others do it with a blender.  Seems okay.  Even kids manage.

What goes into pesto besides basil?

Head to allrecipes.com.  Wow.  Who knew there were different ways to mix oil and basil?  Pick the one that has a hundred comments and 4.5 out of five stars.  Wait.  Pine nuts AND brazil nuts?  Really?  Go to the grocery store.  Pine nuts are four bucks for a little bag?  So much for those tiny things?  No… I don’t want to pick them out of pine cones myself.  Sigh.  Skipping brazil nuts though.

Three cups of basil

Is that three cups of fluffy leaves?  Three cups of chopped up leaves?  Three cups if I push down?  Why don’t recipes have the information I need?

One cup of oil

Really???  I don’t think I’ve ever poured a cup of oil into anything.  Okay, here I go.  Basil leaves in blender (that’s how they did it on YouTube).  Then SOME oil.  Let’s not get carried away.  Push “blend.”  Aaaaaand nothing happens.  The leaves mock me.  I add more oil.  I shove with spatula.  Ah.  It does take 1/2 cup of oil to make stuff work.  I figure out how to work the blender so it pulses.  Very cool.

Add pine nuts, parmesan, bit of chili powder.  Hey – it was rated 4.5 stars.  Blend some more.  Peeking inside – wow!  It looks like pesto.  Adding some more oil so I can get it out.

Add to hot pasta

Do I add it to the whole pound of rotelli?  What if there isn’t enough pesto?  Better keep some pasta out.  Then if the pesto is awful the kid can add red sauce to that and not starve to death.  Because, of course, that’s likely.

  Spoon into bowls.  Take picture for proof.  Kid finds it… okay.  I don’t think she likes pesto as much as she thought she did.  I also think the last kind of pesto she had was creamy pesto… which of course everyone likes.  Husband says thumbs up.

So if I can do it, you can do it.  Lesson learned?  A little angst (and YouTube) never hurt anyone. 

And you don’t really need a whole cup of oil.