Please may you help me take the Pesto Plunge?

[ChaosTrulyReigns]

Seriously I have never cooked with it.

Gwan, take pity on me and share your best pesto concoctions to persuade me to pop my pesto cherry.

Start simple. Get hold of the best quality pesto you can find, cook up some decent quality spaghetti and stir a big blob of the former into plenty of the latter.... grate a little extra parmesan on at the end. A few twists of black pepper. Enjoy.

Thank you I shall try that.

Now for another doily question: does it need to be cooked or can I just have it on nice bread?

I've only had red pesto, but i love it just how chil says yum!

You don't need to cook it to eat it but it's probably a bit too salty just to spread on bread. Mind you, if you put a blob on your bread when you're making cheese on toast, that's pretty amazing...

I also love pesto with gnocci and lots of cheese on top. Heaven.

Green pesto on a jacket potato is pretty wonderful!

I love pasta with pesto, cream, bacon and black olives.

It's also nice stirred with some cream cheese and spread on grainy bread

A little pesto is lovely in a sandwich, it is also good in a mozzarella salad - put on torn up pieces of mozzarella with some extra virgin olive oil drizzled over. I also add a big dollop of it to some greek/natural yoghurt and it makes a lovely dip.

Another nice addition is to cook some green beans in the same pot as the pasta. Once drained add the pesto to the drained pasta and green beans and add some grated parmigiano.

It's lovely on its own spread on toast.
Worth noting that the freshly made kind is usually a lot less salty than the jarred stuff. Or make your own - very easy and keeps for a good while in the fridge.

Pesto(i prefer red) and cream cheese stuffed into chicken breasts that are then wrappen in bacon and oven cooked at 200 degrees for about 40 minutes delicious served with anything! Also very tasty in sandwiches the next day.

I'm making this tonight

www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/9980/cheesy-tuna-pesto-pasta

with red pesto cos the kids like it. I also do green pesto and pasta with some steamed courgette and other green veg, quick and easy!

I love a ciabatta roll spread with green pesto, then slices of goats cheese, then slices of nice tomatoes, then a little salt & pepper and grilled or put into the oven for the cheese to melt a bit.

You don't have to cook it though.

I love it on some grilled pork steaks - once the meat is cooked I spread the pesto on top, sprinkle a little cheese on it and put it back under the grill until the cheese melts. Heavenly!

Mix it with mayo and use in sandwiches - esp good with cold meats. But agree with gastrognome, v. easy to make your own then you can season it as you like and it's much nicer than even the best shop bought imho.

Toasted split bagel, bit of pesto on each half, plus parma ham, sliced cheese, and some fruit/veg on the side.

Or just a bit on some pasta.

Or a dollop into any tomatoey type of soup, or into a bolognese sauce.

But it's possible to overdo it - so start with a bit and add more.

Make extra pasta and have the rest cold for lunch tomorrow.

Grill some chicken breasts and spread them with pesto halfway through.

Then once' you're addicted grow a big pot of basil and make your own. It's just like pesto - but so much better!

it goes really nicely with rice.

chicken breasts smeared in pesto and grilled are nice too.

Seeker is right, homemade pesto is so good and really v easy (basil, pine nuts, olive oil, garlic and salt all blitzed together, then stir in grated parmesan).

I have recently been making a gorgeous pesto-dressed salad: mix lettuce and baby spinach, torn up mozzarella, and toasted pine nuts, then add a good dollop of pesto and some extra olive oil and get in there with your hands to coat everything evenly. You can also add chopped chicken to make it a substantial kind of main course salad, or it's divine as an accompaniment to spring lamb.