Benjamin Franklin once said “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” We at G@H agree. We echo the sentiment about pesto. Through pesto’s mere existence, we see that the Almighty wants our food to taste. He wants us to enjoy pasta, pizza and bruschetta. Unlike Dr. Atkins, God likes carbohydrates.

Pesto is simple and beautiful. Its primary ingredient, basil, grows like a weed in the summer heat. With one lively plant, you can dine weekly on fresh pesto. Basil’s sweet, slightly menthol flavor mixes divinely with rich, buttery olive oil.  And, the other ingredients – garlic, pine nuts and cheese – are no taste slouches themselves.

We toss our pesto in cooled linguine for a refreshing pasta dish.  A grilled chicken breast smothered in pesto makes a fine sandwich. Feeling TexMex? Make yourself a dang pesto quesadilla.  We even developed a recipe for Basil Pesto Bread in our Zojirushi Home Bakery Virtuoso. Are you convinced? Here’s our special G@H recipe:

Fresh Basil Pesto

Ingredients

• 2 cups of packed basil leaves
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped into quarters
• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts
• 1/2 cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese
• Course sea salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Directions

Add the basil, pine nuts and garlic into a food processor or chopper. (We use the KitchenAid 3.5-cup Food Chopper).  Press the pulse button three to four times. Use a spatula to scrape down any kicked-up mixture. Slowly pour olive oil into the machine while intermittently hitting the pulse button. Add the grated cheese. Press the pulse button a final time. Season. Enjoy!

Looks, smells and tastes heavenly, doesn’t it?