Walnut Basil Pesto

Name: Walnut Basil Pesto
Total time: 15 min
Yield: 2
Ingredients: 2 cup basil (leaves only, packed); 1 clove garlic (peeled); ½ tsp salt (coarse); ½ cup olive oil (extra virgin); ⅓ cup parmesan (finely grated); 3 tbsp walnuts (toasted, in place of pine nuts)

Sauces & Drinks · European

A variant of Pesto — The reference’s walnut-for-pine-nut substitution, with its own ingredient list.

6 ingredients · 15 minutes · 2 servings

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Contains dairy, tree nut

Restrictions

Containsdairy · tree nutIt is in an ingredient you cannot leave out.

Diets

VegetarianPescatarianNo porkNo alcohol

Worked out from the ingredient list. It knows nothing about brands, shared equipment or cross contamination, and it is not a certification — if you have an allergy, you still have to read the label.

Ingredients

Servings:

2 cup	basil (leaves only, packed)
1 clove	garlic (peeled)
½ tsp	salt (coarse)
½ cup	olive oil (extra virgin)
⅓ cup	parmesan (finely grated)
3 tbsp	walnuts (toasted, in place of pine nuts)

Optional

Not counted above. The dish works without them.

2 tbsp	pecorino (finely grated)
1 tsp	lemon (juice)
1 pinch	black pepper (ground)

Steps

rest3 min
toasted walnuts, cooled
The listed walnuts are already toasted. Let them cool completely before processing; do not toast them a second time.
mince2 min
processor bowl, or mortar
Work the garlic, salt and cooled toasted walnuts into a rough paste. This version replaces the pine nuts with walnuts; continue with the basil and oil, and fold in the cheese by hand.
mix2 min
short pulses, no more than 10
+ basil leaves, pulsed in bursts and scraped down once. Bruised basil leaks polyphenol oxidase, which browns and turns bitter on contact with air and heat — brief pulses cut the leaves, sustained blending grinds them and gives you dull olive sludge.
emulsify3 min
motor off between additions, or stirred by hand
+ olive oil in a thin stream, pulsing just to combine. Extra virgin oil is fragile under high shear: over-processing ruptures the fruit cells and releases a metallic bitterness, so finish the oil by hand with a spoon if the paste is already loose.
fold2 min
machine off, room temperature
+ parmesan (+ pecorino, lemon juice, pepper), stirred in by hand = pesto. Cheese never goes in with the blade running — friction heat melts its butterfat out of suspension and the sauce turns from creamy to grainy and greasy, and it cannot be brought back.
store1 min
jar, oil-sealed, refrigerated
press flat in a jar and pour a film of oil over the surface. Pesto browns from the top down by oxidation, not spoilage, so excluding air keeps it green for three days; freeze it before adding the cheese if you want longer.