This recipe is summer to me, through and through. It freezes beautifully, so you can enjoy it in the bleak grey of winter as well, but something about a lazy, hot summer day ending in high-quality pasta coated in this pesto…it’s magic. My kids all adore this pesto, despite adamantly telling me they don’t like pecans. My favorite way to have it is with grilled shrimp, but it’s endlessly versatile.

Ingredients

3 cups fresh basil leaves, loosely packed

1.5 cups unsalted pecans

5 cloves garlic

1 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions

Pulse everything except the olive oil in the food processor until it’s uniformly tiny, then stream the olive oil in as you continue to pulse. Once your pesto is to your desired consistency, serve it over warm pasta with 1/4 cup or so of pasta water to make it really creamy and good.