Jamie’s Tip - When making pesto it’s really important to taste and adjust the
flavour as you go – add an extra squeeze of lemon juice, a splash
more oil or a pinch of seasoning until you’ve got it just right. You can use sunflower or pumpkin seeds if you prefer instead of the pine nuts.
Prep
15 min
Cook
3 min
Serves
4
Difficulty
Easy
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Ingredients
pine nuts 50 g (toasted)
Parmesan 30 g (grated)
fresh basil 100 g
garlic cloves ½ (chopped)
sea salt pinch
black pepper pinch
extra-virgin olive oil 4 tbsp
lemon 1 (juice)
Method
Prepare the ingredients
Place a small frying pan over a medium heat. Carefully add the pine nuts (or seeds) and toast for 2 to 3 minutes, or until very lightly golden – keep them moving so they don’t burn, then tip into a bowl and put to one side.
Use the box grater to grate the Parmesan onto a chopping board, then transfer to a bowl and put to one side.
Pick and roughly tear the basil leaves, discarding the stalks.
Peel and roughly chop the garlic.
Make the pesto
Add the garlic to a pestle and mortar with a tiny pinch of salt and the torn basil leaves.
Bash the mixture to a paste, then add the pine nuts (or seeds) and pound again, leaving a little bit of texture.
Scrape the mixture out into a bowl and add half the Parmesan.
Stir gently, then add roughly 3 to 4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil – you need just enough to bind the sauce and get it to an oozy consistency – then stir through the remaining Parmesan.
Cut the lemon in half. Add a squeeze of juice, using your fingers to catch any pips.
Taste and season with a pinch of freshly ground black pepper, adding a further squeeze of lemon juice if needed.
