2024 the best pesto recipe review

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(as of Dec 05, 2024 03:00:23 UTC - Details)

Most people are familiar with classic Italian pesto, a green sauce made from basil, garlic, pine nuts, Parmigiano-Reggiano, salt, and olive oil. But Leslie Lennox, founder of the award-winning artisanal pesto company Hope’s Gardens, shows us that pesto need not be limited to its original ingredients―and that creative pestos can serve as building blocks for all manner of flavorful dishes, just like any good “mother sauce.”

In Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce, Lennox introduces readers to a new way to think about pesto. In the right proportion, almost any combination of plants, garlic, nuts, cheese, seasoning, and oil can make a delicious sauce―especially when you’re using what’s on hand, what’s local, and what’s in season.

Lennox offers up several favorite pesto recipes, and then takes these simple sauces a step further. They serve as the building blocks for 97 kitchen-tested recipes for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and more. From risotto and ramen to chicken fajitas and swordfish kebabs, everything tastes better with pesto!

From the Publisher

See pesto in a new way.

Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce teaches you to invent your own pesto combinations and to use pesto as a building block for a variety of meals. Pesto doesn’t have to be an occasional add-on—it can elevate any meal and become a part of your regular kitchen repertoire.

Build recipes according to what you like the most.

Pesto can be adapted in hundreds of ways. A basic template for building personalized pestos helps you create the recipes that fit your tastes, resources, and dietary needs.

Go beyond traditional pesto ingredients.

Suggestions for a range of pesto combinations illustrate that resourceful cooks can make a delicious sauce from almost anything that is on hand, in season, and local.

Use pesto in a diverse range of fresh and healthy recipes.

Recipes for dishes like Spicy Jalapeño Guacamole, Compound Pesto Butter, Pesto Ramen Bowl, and Pesto-Stuffed Burgers emphasize ease of preparation, versatility, and unfussy, in-season ingredients.

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Agate Surrey (May 14, 2019)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 224 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1572842687
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1572842687
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.7 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.3 x 1 x 9.1 inches
Reviewer: Nancy A.
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: PESTO:The Modern Mother Sauce has helped me love cooking again!
Review: Leslie Lennox not only simply and conveniently shows a novice or experienced cook how to make any meal delicious but her beautiful illustrations are worthy of an art museum exhibit!The kitchen is not my favorite room but since getting Leslie's book I find every meal a potential adventure! And I clean out my refrigerator of vegetables, pasta and anything else lingering requiring some tasty spice!Even if you're not an everyday cook you can derive so much pleasure from reading Leslie's recipes and stories!I truly hope she goes on and gives us future volumes on her other favorite culinary areas...Buy the book! A great investment for the kitchen, your cooking adventures and just for the beauty of it!

Reviewer: Lynnette Wick
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Short and easy…
Review: Garden to table recipes for anyone. Really nice, concise recipe book for anyone who hates a cookbook that masquerades as an encyclopedia

Reviewer: LauraW617
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Easy, no nonsense and sustainable template to prepare delicious meals
Review: This is more than a cookbook and teaches the reader how to create a wide range of delicious vegetable spreads and enjoy them in a vast variety of ways. Pesto is not just basil, rather any vegetable you like, and have in the frig, can become a delicious Pesto, and there are beautiful photographs that demonstrate how.I particularly liked the way that this book makes food accessible and easy without expensive ingredients and provides many ways that the user can simplify components according to their lifestyle and preferences. I also appreciated the section on growing pesto and suggestion that anyone can begin to grow their own food. The book has a seasonal undertone and directs the reader to local sources and markets which I appreciated also.Besides recipes this book outlines an approach to food, cooking and family life that I will benefit from and I am sure other people will too.

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: A great addition for new and experienced cooks
Review: This is a great addition to my very expansive cookbook library. I am an avid and experienced home cook, and as such, am very choosy about adding to my overflowing shelves. The book has some wonderful ideas for Pestos I had never thought of and, enough ways to use them, it would take months to try them all. I look forward to doing that! The few I have tried already have been great.

Reviewer: Neil Bainton
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Learned so much about Pesto and loving it.
Review: Love Leslie Lennox's first book. Well illustrated and well written. Easy to follow recipes that are easy to prepare for any level of experience in the kitchen.

Reviewer: Paula Halter
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: The best Pesto EVER!!!
Review: Spectacular cook book!!!

Reviewer: Amazon Customer
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: PESTO PERFECTO
Review: Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce is an amazing guide to creating pesto. I love that it contains a master recipe that is super adaptable, so I can get creative with different vegetables, nuts and oils! I'm a huge fan of making this dish, I make a lot of pasta at home and it has tons of ideas for unique pestos that use more than the classic basil/pine nuts combo. I now know that pesto can be so much more than a classic Italian sauce, its so versatile! The recipes are super creative, and I'm excited to use this "mother sauce" on more than just pasta!Another great thing about this book is how pretty it is! I'm obsessed with the cover. It makes an awesome housewarming or birthday gift, especially when it's paired with a basil plant or a nice bottle of olive oil. It is definitely something you won't want to hide on a shelf, but instead leave out for all to see.

Reviewer: XandysMom
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: So many pesto options!
Review: The recipes I've tried have been easy but so tasty! I'm amazed at how many dishes you can make with pesto. Not to mention the varieties of pesto I never would have thought to make. The best thing about the book is that you can now make the most amazing pesto at home (promise - these pestos are so much better than store-bought!). Great book to have no matter what level of cook you are.

Reviewer: Kris
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: At the beginning of 2020, I treated myself to a few new cookbooks -- Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce by Leslie Lennox (owner of Hope's Garden) was one of the titles I bought. As a fan of pesto, I'm always looking to expand my pesto repertoire and, Lennox's cookbook seemed like just the book to help me achieve this. Thinking along the lines of the original "mother sauces" from French gastronomy (bechamel, espagnole, veloute, hollandaise, and tomat), in the introduction, Lennox looks at how others, like Samin Nosrat, expand on and have begun to redefine what a mother sauce looks like for modern cooks. What is crucial for Lennox's purposes is that as Nosrat defines the "modern mother sauces" as: yogurt, pepper (hot sauce/chili sauce), herb, tahini, and pesto; Lennox presents the purpose of her book: "Unlike those early mother sauces, this one can come from your backyard, reduce waste, and deliver healthy, nutritious vegetables into your diet in delicious and surprising ways."(13)The cookbook is organized into two parts -- basics of pesto making and recipes that use pesto. I really appreciate that while Lennox offers a guide for home cooks to follow, she also encourages experimentation too. There is a variety to the recipes which use pesto: from eggs and toast to appetizers, pizza, pasta (and more!). While the pesto itself is vegetarian (or vegan depending on what ingredients you use), the recipes using pesto offer a range from vegetarian options to ones that use meat, fish, and poultry. Leslie's husband, Dave, also gives detailed and invaluable information about growing your own basil at home. There's a glossary of important culinary terms as well as "worksheets" for jotting down personal combinations you might create. What Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce offers is a compendium on pesto.In some ways, this has been the perfect book for home cooking during the pandemic. I find I rely on her basic "how to" ratios for making pesto when I want to make the most of the ingredients I've got on hand -- no cheese or nuts? No problem! Lennox advocates for the home cook to be thoughtful and resourceful, which allows them to create a pesto to suit their needs and tastes. Lennox outlines the 6 basic components of pesto (3 of which -- the nuts, cheese, and garlic -- are optional) and she provides lists of ingredients for the plant, cheese/cheese substitute, oil, nuts/seeds, and acid/seasoning components. With the information she provides, it seems that the combinations for making pesto are limitless. If this sounds overwhelming, Lennox also offers "tried and true" combinations as well. Her recipes for kale pesto as well as for spinach pesto are my go-to because the recipes help to stretch out the spinach or kale over a few meals. Kale can often have a tougher texture for my young daughter, so I find that by incorporating the kale into a delicious pesto helps to make it more palatable for her.Each week I make a big jar of pesto that I use throughout the week in sandwiches, pasta, dressings, as well as on pizza. A spoonful of pesto (or two) added to a soup or sauce also gives whatever you're making more flavour. And, while Lennox offers a wealth of recipes, I've found that I prefer to add the pesto to whatever I'm already making. For example, I found that adding a generous dollop of pesto to roast potatoes adds flavour and nutrients than just serving them with sour cream. Also, I take the opportunity to make my own pesto now, rather than using store bought as is called for in other cookbooks. I find that the recipe for Classic Basil Pesto from the Lennox's book tastes great with my daughter's favourite pizza scroll recipe. And who could resist a luscious swipe of pesto on a hunk of fresh sourdough or as a base on avocado toast?Pesto: The Modern Mother Sauce is such an excellent kitchen resource! Sharing the task of making pesto with my young daughter is a great way of showing her how to combine different flavours and ingredients, as well as teaching her new kitchen skills. I appreciate how Lennox encourages home cooks to use what is in season/local when making and enjoying pesto. I find I'm continually inspired by Lennox's enthusiasm for how versatile and delicious pesto is.

Reviewer: Claudia Maria Franco Tessari
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: Muito bom!

Reviewer: Paul
Rating: 3.0 out of 5 stars
Title:
Review: The recipes look awesome but the test is illegible. The recipes are so great I ordered the hard copy. I recommend they fix the text in the electronic version. Would give it 5 stars if the text was legible!