Don’t have a food processor, well that is alright by me, because I didn’t need one. After finding a recipe online for an Italian Grilled Cheese, which consisted of making your own pesto, I was determined to do just that. Over the week I slowly gathered the ingredients the blog post told me to get.
This is what I got:
- 3/4 Cup Basil Leaves
- 1/4 Cup Oregano Leaves
- 2-3 tablespoons Olive Oil
- 1/4 Cup Walnuts
- 1 clove of Garlic
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon pepper
Finally I decided I am going to make this pesto and it is going to be good, then I hit the speed bump. Recipe calls for putting all this stuff in the food processor and blending it. That was it, only problem being, I didn’t have a food processor and I didn’t want to go by one. Come to think of it though, there are other things i could use one for, but I digress. I wasn’t going to give up though, I Googled around to see if anyone had written about making pesto without a processor, sure enough I found someone who had. It isn’t overly complicated to figure out how to do, but I wanted to confirm.
What I had to do was chop everything, finely. As finely as I possible could and as I did that mix it as much as I could in a bowl. I rotated through ingredients to make sure the pesto was being mixed properly, or it gave me the reinsurance it was. While mixing in the ingredients I was also adding in parts of the olive oil to moisten up the mix. Finally once all the ingredients were in the small bowl I once again beat the living crap out of it to make sure it was mixed and also crushed up enough.
At this point I proceeded to taste test it. It actually turned out pretty good. I did find though that it was rather garlicy, as well as salty. I would cut back on both of those next time.
I wasn’t done yet though. I smeared the pesto on a slice of bread with thick sliced of mozzarella cheese and baby tomatoes and threw it all in a frying pan to grill. By the way, if you also happen to have a Jamie Oliver fry pan like I do, be warned when you heat them up, they retain heat very well. I nearly burnt one side of my sandwich.
Of course then the only other thing to do is enjoy it… or clean up the mess you made.
Nancy (aka moneycoach) says
Actually, I just read on a blog that the reason pesto tastes so much better in Italy is because it’s not all mashed up into one big, well, mashup-by-processor there, but rather, done by hand like you did, which helps keep the flavour a bit separate (and thus more interesting). I hadn’t thought to add oregano so I’ll give that a try this weekend when I make another batch.
Tiffany says
That sandwich looks amazing! Glad the pesto turned out.
Amy O says
Looks delicious! Might have to try that.