We are happy to announce the start of the pesto season in the Mocking Bird Hill kitchen garden. Our highly prized home-grown organic herbs with zero food miles flourish as we gambol towards summer, and we dare any Italian to step into the hotel’s garden and not be impressed by our tasty basil.
We’d love to start a true herb campaign in Jamaica hotels which would guarantee that all herbs served in their restaurants should be grown and lovingly tended on site to cut down on unnecessary food miles. Our climate is perfect for such a proposition.
Do visit our Mille Fleurs Restaurant for a pesto taste test, we guarantee afterwards that you will reach for our recipe and bin the jar.
Fresh Basil Pesto
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Ingredients
- 2 cups of fresh basil
- ½ cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ⅓ cup pine nuts
- 3 medium sized garlic cloves
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Instructions
- Take some fresh Basil
- Combine the basil with the pine nuts, garlic and cheese, pulse a few times in a food processor. (If you are using walnuts instead of pine nuts and they are not already chopped, pulse them a few times first, before adding the basil.)
- Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
- Serve with pasta, or over baked potatoes, or spread over toasted baguette slices.
Fresh homemade basil pesto
