Roasted Pesto

I finally harvested another round of basil. I've already made some pesto, dried some, added to our breakfasts, lunches, and dinners...

This bunch was made into pesto, but with a different twist.

Roasted.

Well, the basil was not roasted, but the garlic and almonds were.

We're talking yum. Bursting with flavor yum.

Here's the ingredients & process.

2 cups basil, packed & overflowing
heaping 1/2 cup of almonds
16 cloves of garlic
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil, or more as required
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp turmeric

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Put garlic cloves on a piece of aluminum foil, drizzle with oil, sprinkle with salt & pepper. Seal the foil.
In an 8x8 oven-proof baking dish, put the almonds. Lay the garlic packet inside the dish as well.
Bake for 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Bake another 5 minutes. Stir the almonds. Turn oven off and leave pan inside for another 10-15 minutes until the almonds are nice and toasty. By this time the garlic should be nice and sizzly as well.

Add the basil, almonds, and garlic to a food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds. Add half amount of lemon juice and oil. Process for another minute or so. Add remaining juice and oil and continue to process until desired consistency is reached. Add more oil if required. Add seasonings and process to combine.

All done! Store for use now or later.

I was planning to save these for my afternoon snack, but they didn't make it.
This pesto is too good!

I like to freeze pesto and store for adding to pasta later.

What are your ideas or favorite uses for pesto? Do you have a favorite pesto recipe?