pesto sauce

here’s another silver palate one. it’s a summer classic, but we freeze it so we can have it all year round. today i made about 3 1/2 batches of it, because we had a basilsplosion in our herb garden and i wanted to use it before the first frost. my family can eat pesto once a week until december.
recipe as printed, followed by my comments/alterations:

2 cups fresh basil leaves, thoroughly washed and patted dry
4 good-size garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 cup shelled walnuts
1 cup cup best-quality olive oil
1 cup freshly grated imported parmesan cheese
1/4 cup freshly grated imported romano cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. combine the basil, garlic, and walnuts in the bowl of a food processor – or halve the recipe and use a blender – and chop.
2. leave the motor running and add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream.
3. shut the motor off, add the cheeses, and big pinch of salt and a liberal grinding of pepper. process briefly to combine, then scrape out into a bowl and cover until ready to use.
2 cups, enough to sauce 2 pounds of pasta.

pack the basil in a bit, but not too much, when you measure it. it’s okay for there to be some air in there.
for the cheese, i just use 1 1/4 cup of kraft parmesan, and honestly it turns out fine. and if you want to use no name olive oil, that’s cool too.
the walnuts are what makes this extra-special-magical, in my opinion.
this freezes very well, just put it into 1-cup containers before you do so, for ease of use later.

to put it on pasta, add about 2 tablespoons of the pasta water to the sauce before you put it on, and 1/4 cup of heavy cream if you want (we never do and it turns out tasty anyway).