Homemade Pesto

Forgive me for the absence of my recent posts! Preparing for vacation, going on vacation, and recuperating from vacation has certainly been preoccupying. Though I have to say, I will have to do quite a few posts on the meals I had while in England and Scotland and my attempts at trying to recreate some of those awesome dishes: fish and chips, haggis, neeps, and tatties, steak and ale and kidney pie, the list goes on. In the meantime, I'd like to start off with a simple dish that will make your tummy thank you and your friends go yum, grilled chicken and pesto farfalle with a sprinkle of diced tomatoes. I'm going to focus on the pesto we made, since most of you already know how to grill chicken and boil pasta from a box! But in case you're wondering, all I did was cook the chicken in olive oil on the stovetop and sprinkle with kosher sea salt, pepper, and garlic powder. As for the farfalle, all it is is bowtie pasta so just the water boiling and add the pasta. Here's the pesto recipe!

What you'll need:
Basil leaves, about 3 cups worth - I don't know exactly how much we used, but I can say we had a ziplock bag full of the basil leaves we plucked right from our plant.
1/2 cup of cashew nuts - pine nuts are the tradition for pesto, but since it's so expensive nowadays, we use cashew nuts or macademia nuts. Walnuts and almonds are other great substitutes!
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
A dash of sea salt and pepper

Directions:
1) First, heat the oven to 350 degrees to roast the cashew nuts. This will bring out the cashew's maximum flavor.

2) While that's roasting, measure and then add the basil leaves, parmesan cheese, and garlic into a food processor. Once all the ingredients are added, mix in the roasted cashew nuts.
3) As the food processor is working, mix in the olive oil slowly.

4) Season with salt and pepper once complete!

For a complete meal, just mix with the farfalle pasta and add the chicken and fresh diced tomatoes. Everyone will be happy and satisfied at the end. I was!