Without pesto, I might never have started a love affair with my food processor. You see, my first food processor was very tiny. I think my aunt and uncle got it for free from a casino(?). It was cute, but it was just too small to make pesto. I had to make it in batches, and I could never figure out how to divide the ingredients. So I got a bigger food processor, and now I’m in love and use it all the time. Thank you, pesto. Pesto is also wonderful because it smells like summer, and it adds boundless flavor to everything it touches. And in French, it’s called pistou. I love saying pistou.

To make pesto, drop 3 whole garlic cloves into a food processor while the blades are running. Let it get chopped up. It will smell wonderful.

Then, add 1 pinch of salt, 3 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts, and 2 cups of loosely packed basil leaves into the food processor.

Run the food processor until the basil is minced. Then, with the food processor still running, drizzle 1/2 cup of olive oil in and let it get mixed. It’s starting to look a lot like pesto!

Remove the pesto from the food processor, and stir in 1/4 cup of finely grated parmesan cheese. Presto pesto! You can spread your pesto on sandwiches, pizza, mix it into soups, or toss it with salads. To store your pesto, transfer it to a container, pour in enough olive oil to cover the top of the pesto so it doesn’t brown, put on the lid, and stick it in the fridge.

This recipe was adapted from Mario Batali.

Shopping list:

• Basil- 2 loosely packed cups of leaves
• Pine nuts- 3 tablespoons
• Garlic- 3 cloves
• Olive oil- 1/2 cup
• Parmesan cheese- 1/4 cup, grated
• Salt