This year, we only have a thirty minute lunch period during the school day. At home, many students can’t walk across the street to buy lunch like we can at Tech, so students have to find other ways to get food. Here is one recipe for a quick and tasty pesto that you can make, put on something, and eat before your asynchronous classes start.
Gus’s Pesto
- 1 cup of basil
- ¼ cup of olive oil
- 1 clove of garlic
- 2 tbsp pine nuts
- ¼ cup of parmesan cheese
- ½ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
- Salt and pepper to taste
First, blend the basil and olive oil together in a food processor (a blender will work, but only barely, it’s much slower). If you do not like the consistency at this stage, feel free to add more olive oil, but remember that the other ingredients will make it thicker. Next add the garlic, then the pine nuts, followed by the parmesan cheese, and blend until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated. Transfer to whatever you’re going to serve the pesto in, and add the pepper flakes and the salt and pepper.
Pesto is a very flexible food, and while these ratios are perfectly fine, you’ll probably find yourself enjoying the recipe more as you change up the ingredients, for example, if you want a looser pesto, add more olive oil, if you want more garlic flavor, add a second clove of garlic. My personal favorite adaptation is to replace the basil with arugula and replace the pine nuts with walnuts, for a bitter and very flavorful arugula pesto.