This is my Mum's pesto recipe, although she'll tell you it's not really. She'll tell you she just got it out of a recipe book somewhere, and that she can't really cook, that she just follows the instructions. Bollocks! My first memories of cooking are with my mum. We used to make pancakes in the mornings before my big brother and sister went off to school. Mum would let me fill up measuring cups with milk and olive oil, and - little angel that I was - I'd always make sure to fill each cup right to the brim, so that it was impossible to move them without their contents overflowing all over the bench top. For her own inscrutable reasons, she tolerated my madness. 

I've since grown up and become much more mature and selfless. Now I just steal her recipe books... and her lemons...and any avocados that she doesn't explicitly forbid me from touching. 

Thanks for the pesto ma ...and for the recipe books, lemons and avocados. And for everything else you buy that I inevitably eat without asking. And for teaching me to cook. And for being my Mum xxx

Perfect Pesto

Makes 1 jar

Ingredients

3 cups basil

2-4 garlic cloves

1/3 cup pine nuts

1/2 cup grated Pecorino cheese (you can use Parmesan too, but Pecorino is AMAZING)

1/2 cup olive oil

Method

Erm...Put all the ingredients in a blender. Blend.

Blend! Blend until it's a nice pesto-y consistency, you can make it reaaaal smooth if that's what you like, or leave it with a little bit of cheesy chunk. Up to you. 

Put your pesto in a clean jar, and add a little olive oil on top to seal it.

Serve dolloped on top of freshly cooked spaghetti, with plenty of cheese and maybe a side salad for some extra crunch. 

It will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days, or you can freeze it like we do so you can eat giant jarfuls of it all year round!

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