anyone have a good pesto recipe??

I don't have one but if I remember correctly Rachel Ray made on on her daytime show not to long ago. She has all of her recipes on her website. I don't know if it is good but all of her stuff that I have made has turned out really well and as she like to say.... YUMM-O
LD
 
Ooops I didn't see the low fat part. I will say that I have made changes in some of her stuff to make it lower fat. HTH
LD
 
Catherine, honestly, I don't view classic pesto as being terribly "fattening". I think it's really in how much you use. If you want to you can always use walnuts in place of the pine nuts -- this won't reduce the fat but it will make it a healthier fat. Parmesan is one of the lower fat cheeses, too. Really, classic pesto is made with healthy fats and it's so flavorful that you really don't need a lot of it. You can also add things like orange zest to give it a whole new dimension of flavor. Try going to the food network website and search using pesto + a chef, like pesto Giada, or pesto Ina -- these gals really know how to cook!

ETA that I would just cut back on the fats in the rest of your meal if you're worried about the fat and calories.

There are so many creative variations for classic pesto it's almost overwhelming.
 
I found this vegan recipe on the internet, sounds great to me.

* 1 1/2 cups fresh basil
* 1/3 cup olive oil
* 1 cup pine nuts (other nuts, such as almonds or walnuts may be substituted)
* 5 cloves garlic
* 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
The idea is to die young as late as possible

Janie

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I know pesto is full of good fats, but you can get too many of those too. I saw one recipe where they replaced the olive oil with chicken or beef broth. I'm just not sure about that one- it seems like it would alter the taste too much. I love pesto on spinach salad and I don't use much. I guess I am just being too nit-picky LOL!! I should just learn to enjoy in small amts :)

thanks everyone
Catherine http://www.smileyhut.com/silly/arrowhead.gif

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Ooh, I don't think I would like pesto made with broth, but you could always try it and let us know how it compares. Yea, I say go for the real thing and just be mindful of your calorie intake for the rest of the day. ;)
 
I have made pesto with broth though mine was vegetable broth and it still tasted really good. You just add a little to bind all the ingredients together.
 
Well I'll be the "devil" since everyone else has suggested ways to lower the fat in pesto. My DH makes pesto from a recipe he found in some Italian cookbook, and it's the basic pesto recipe BUT you add maybe 2 tablespoons of butter. It makes a TREMENDOUS difference in flavor and texture. It's the best pesto I have ever tasted. We use maybe a 2 or 3 tablespoons of pesto for a small to medium-ish bowl of pasta, per serving, so you really are not getting much fat per serving.
 
No, there's olive oil AND butter in it :~) So (although I don't have the cookbook in front of me) it's a lot like the recipe above (but without the nutritional yeast), but you add to the entire recipe a couple tablespoons of butter before it's all blended together.
 
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