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1
Bring a medium-size saucepan full of water to a boil while you rinse basil leaves.
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2
Fill a bowl with ice water and place it next to the saucepan with a skimmer close by (a Chinese skimmer is good for this).
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3
When water comes to a boil, salt generously and add basil leaves.
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4
Push them down into the water with the back of a skimmer to submerge, count to five, then remove immediately with skimmer and transfer to ice water.
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5
Drain and squeeze out excess water.
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6
Place pine nuts or walnuts in a food processor and process until finely ground.
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7
Add blanched basil and kosher salt to taste (I use 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon) and process until finely chopped.
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8
With machine running, slowly add olive oil and continue to process for a full minute, or until the mix is reduced to a fine puree.
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9
Transfer to a bowl.
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10
You should have about 1/2 cup of puree .
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11
When you are ready to use the pesto, puree garlic in a mortar and pestle, or put through a garlic press, and stir into the pesto (or if using a mortar and pestle, add the pureed basil to the mashed garlic in mortar and work garlic and pesto together with pestle).
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12
Add Parmesan and stir in.
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13
The pesto will condense when you add the cheese, so even though youve added a half-cup of cheese to the puree, you will end up with about 2/3 cup of pesto.
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14
Follow the instructions in recipes for thinning out with water.
