Experimenting with Pesto!

Mom and I have become real foodies lately, and are determined to make as much food as we can from scratch.

Today, we made pesto by hand, with a basic recipe from Contardo, a family friend who was born, raised, and still lives in Milano.

All you need to make a good pesto is a mortar and pestle (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_and_pestle), 1 medium-large clove of garlic, a big handful of fresh basil leaves (the more you have the more pesto you will ultimately have), a small handful of pine nuts, salt and pepper and some olive oil.

Steps to make pesto:
1) Wash the basil leaves and take the skin off of the garlic clove.
2) Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil into the mortar (the bowl).
3) Add the basil, garlic, and pine nuts to the mortar
4) Begin crushing the leaves into a paste. You can add more oil as needed if there is not enough liquid in the mortar.
5) The paste should take about 15 minutes...after it is satisfactory, taste it and add some salt and pepper as needed.

If you really want to you can use a food processer to mix this faster but I liked making it by hand.

Easy and SO delicious :) After the pesto, just boil some pasta or spaghetti and you're ready to go!