I’m a huge fan of pesto, I love the fresh taste and the fact that it has so many uses.  Use it as a pasta sauce, dip, sandwich filler or indeed pizza topping (see my green pizza recipe).  Though it’s available widely in stores to buy, it’s actually incredibly easy to make and the great news is that it freezes very well so you can make a huge batch and defrost when needed.  Here’s my pesto recipe which is slightly adapted from The Food Network’s pesto recipe.

1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons chopped garlic
5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups good olive oil
1 cup freshly grated parmesan

Place the walnuts, pine nuts, and garlic in a  food processor fitted with a steel blade and process for 15 seconds then add the basil leaves, salt, and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the bowl and continue to process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed. Add the Parmesan and process for a minute. Use right away or store the pesto in the refrigerator or freezer with a thin film of olive oil on top so as to stop the air spoiling the pesto.

Pesto works extremely well as a pizza topping.  See here for additional topping ideas.