It’s been a long time since I ate any shop-bought pesto; there’s a jar of Florentino basil pesto in the cupboard but, I dunno, I just don’t trust it. For pesto you need fresh basil leaves, good olive oil, flaked almonds* or whole almonds with their skins if you’re feeling worthy, plenty of garlic and a hand-held blender. To make your pesto a bit cheesy you can add cheese of your choice; while hard cheeses like pecorino are traditional, soft goat cheese makes for a creamy pesto. If, like me, you prefer no cheese at all, you can add some nutritional yeast to achieve a cheesier taste.
*you can use pine nuts if you prefer, but once I switched to almonds there was no turning back
How to make?
Rinse the basil leaves, chop the garlic, then everything in a blender (or use a hand-held blender)
Goes well with pasta or just about any other grain – alternatively use as topping for bruschetta