Story:

• Recipe comes from my father’s housemate, Claudio Paniconi, on a house on Humbert Street in Princeton, NJ. They would grow lots of basil in the summer and do a big pesto dinner for friends every Saturday, freezing the surplus at the end of the summer.
• Recipe scaled for 1 lb pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 cup basil
• 1/6 cup (2 Tbps + 2 tsp) olive oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp nuts (pine nuts traditional, walnuts work)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/3 cup pecorino romano or parmesan cheese, or toasted bread crumbs or seared crumbled/diced tofu
• 3 Tbsp butter
• 1 lbs spaghetti

Instructions:

• Food process basil, olive oil, salt, nuts, garlic together until smooth. Can also freeze this mixture.
• In a large serving bowl, mix previous ingredients (thawed if frozen) with cheese/crumbs/tofu and butter.
• Add cooked, strained pasta and toss well.