Basil Pesto

Ingredients: organic basil leaves + flowers, organic garlic clove, toasted pine nuts, freshly grated Parmesan, kosher salt, extra virgin olive oil

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Alice Waters has a brilliant recipe for basil pesto - the first I've seen that doesn't have any appliances involved! If you don't have one already, go out and get a mortar & pestle. It's such a fun tool that is incredibly useful and highly underrated in kitchens. Mine's from Le Creuset, which frankly is a bit small, but any kind will work for this pesto. 

The first step is to throw in a crushed garlic clove and a pinch of salt in the mortar, mashing and pounding them together with the pestle until a paste forms. Then you add a handful of pine nuts and some freshly grated Parmesan and you keep mashing and smashing it all together until an even thicker paste forms. Transfer this mixture into another bowl and add the basil leaves, loosely packed, to the brim of the mortar; I also added the blossoming basil flowers, just for kicks. 

Working the fresh leaves and flowers down with the pestle released all the incredible essential oils and flavors of the basil. It takes a bit of elbow grease, but in the end, you will get a very dark forest green paste. At this point, you can add the pine nut/cheese/garlic/salt mixture to the mortar and just combine and mash together, slowly drizzling in about 1/2 cup of olive oil. 

The difference in flavor really is palpable and the essence of the basil is so much more fragrant and flavorful, especially when paired with some freshly made warm pasta.