I LOVE a bright, sunshiny, delicious pesto! Especially for a warm summer afternoon! My dear friend Jaqueline from The Feel Good Kitchen invited me over to her house because her garden was exploding with basil and I decided to make her my Lemon Pistachio Pesto Pasta. I hope you enjoy as much as we did and check out Jacqueline’s site and social media, she’s got a lot of great content!

Lemon Pistachio Pesto Pasta

1 lb. pasta (any shape will do)

about 3 cups of fresh basil leaves

2 garlic cloves

1/2 cup shelled pistachios

the juice of 1 big lemon

1 tsp salt, plus more to taste

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper, more to taste

3/4 -1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the basil leaves, garlic, pistachios, lemon juice, salt, and pepper into a blender or food processor and pulse until chopped. Drizzle in the olive oil while the machine is on low. When incorporated, stop, taste and add more salt and pepper as necessary.

**The key to really delicious pesto is to blend it on low. If you go too high on your machine, you may bruise the basil and it can come out bitter.

Toss the pesto and your cooked pasta and garnish with some of the lemon skin.