PESTO SAUCE is a staple in our lives. We’ve eaten it during cold winter nights, cuddled on the couch, or at the pool during a hot day. Whenever we spend time together, it has become a tradition to eat something with pesto. This dish is yet another thing we can relate to each other with. We’re each captivated by the deep and woody, yet fresh taste, of this classic garlic basil sauce. Natu-rally, we have discovered that making pesto sauce homemade can make an entire dish so much better. It tastes stronger, cheesier and creamier and you can tweak ingredients to your liking, adding more cheese, salt or lemon juice to make your personal perfect sauce. Adding roasted tomatoes on top adds a sweet flavor, so when eaten with the pasta, they burst in your mouth and leave a smoky flavor that compliments the pesto pasta perfectly.

Ingredients: 

Pesto:
2 cups fresh basil leaves
⅓ cup pine nuts
⅓ cup freshly grated or shredded parmesan cheese
3 small cloves garlic (roasted garlic or fresh)
⅓ cup olive oil
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
¼ tsp salt freshly ground black pepper

Tomatoes:
2 cups of cherry tomatoes
1 tsp salt, pepper, oregano and Italian seasoning to taste
¼ cup olive oil to taste

Directions:

Toss the pasta and pesto together in a saucepan on low heat. If needed, add pasta water to the sauce to make it thicker and creamier. Transfer the meal to your desired dish and top with roasted tomatoes and shredded parmesan cheese.

Pesto:

1. Pulse the basil, pine nuts, cheese, and garlic together in a food processor or blender.
2. Add the oil, lemon juice, and salt. Pulse until everything is blended together and relatively smooth.
3. Drizzle more olive oil to thin out, if desired.
4. Taste and add pepper (and more salt) if desired.

Tomatoes:
1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Cut cherry tomatoes lengthwise.
3. Plane, a lan mioning and lich oi sals eil well
combined.
4. Place tomatoes evenly across a baking sheet and roast in the preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until tomatoes and bubbling.