Jalapeno Pesto

* Disclaimer- I have been making this for so long, I don’t measure my ingredients anymore, however these are my best guesses at the amount I typically use. Pesto is such an easy sauce to fix if you add to much or too little of something, so play around!

Start a pot of water to boil.

Get out your food processor or blender, I prefer a food processor for making pesto.

Start by grating the Parmesan cheese in the food processor. I usually grate the whole wedge and use the extra for any cheese you like to sprinkle on top of the finished dish.

Set aside 3/4 of cup for use in the pesto.

Put in the garlic cloves and chop them up.

Put in the basil leaves and let them get chopped up.

Cut up a jalapeno in chunks for easy mixing. I left a couple of seeds, but not many because I didn’t want it too spicy, you can always add more seeds at the end if you want some more kick.

Next, put in the cheese and oil at the same time and mix.
Add in the salt and pepper and give it another quick pulse.

Your water is probably boiling, toss the pasta in!

Now comes the taste testing. Too much cheese or oil? Add some more basil. Not enough flavor- try adding more garlic, it can be hard to properly mix at this point so I recommend chopping it a little before putting it in.

Optional- add in some nuts for a different consistency and flavor. I don’t tend to keep walnuts of pignoli nuts on hand so I have adapted to pesto sans nuts.

Once your pasta is cooked to your liking, pour it back in to the pot you boiled it in and pour your pesto over the top. Use a spatula to get all the green goodness out of the food processor or blender. Toss up vigorously in order to ensure every inch of pasta is covered, your diners will thank you.

Enjoy!