Why I'm a fiend for Pesto Pasta every summer.

As someone who has made many gallons of pesto using home-grown basil, I have a tip for people on a budget. Making lots of pesto is expensive enough with the cost of real Parmesan cheese (I never use the American-made knock-offs), and pine nuts are even more expensive. I've found thatn unsalted raw cashews are a good substitute fore the pine nuts at a fraction of the price, and you barely notice the flavor difference since basil is so dominant in the flavor. You CAN use roasted cashews, but I had by far the best results with raw, unsalted. If you have a Costco or Sam's membership, you can get a couple pounds of these nuts for something li9ke $10-15, while the same amount of pine nuts is $40+.

So a couple of notes from this one from me: 1: I absolutely love that you kept in the part where you realise, yep, ive gotta go from mortar and pestle to blender on this one, screw it, such a good example to set in the kitchen, if your method aint working for you, switch to one that does! 2: The look at 10:33 as you realise what you just did and wait for the last clatter is pure gold, and painfully relatable, absolutely love it! 3: My go to default shape is Fusili, and i think itd work well here too :) 4: I like mine with a good coating! 5: It baffles me how you only refer to pesto in the fridge based on the understanding of it being mixed with the pasta... Atleast over here in europe we use pesto for other stuff, like pesto w/ bread too, so would have stored that pesto as a seperate thing in the fridge, then combined in with the pasta when and as needed. Over all, as with all videos on this channel, love it !

One thing I like to do, to make it easier to crush the basil - is after making the pine nut/garlic paste, I take that out - and crush the basil first. Then re-add the nut mixture and mix again. I also find this leads to better crushed basil, because some of the nut paste on the bottom is preventing the basil leaves from being crushed properly. As always, love your recipes and keep them coming! <3

I really love that you show us a raw uncut process of cooking. Makes it really easy to follow along too and also reminds us that even if someone is a great chef, that we all sometimes dont know what exactly next to do and also make mistakes in the kitchen. Just wanted to mention this, cause it seems some people in the comments arent really happy with these kinds of videos.

If you have a nut allergy, try finding a bag of pepitas seeds. AKA pumpkin seeds! I love pesto and I dated a girl that never had it. Mainly because she has a nut allergy. It works incredibly well that it’s my preferred way of making it now. You won’t notice missing the pine nuts. Since pumpkin seeds are cheaper, you can have a bit more money for better quality cheese. You’ll get some nuttiness from a good cheese.

Blunders and blenders without cut scenes was fun :)

Also freeze the pine nuts if you won’t use them all at once, they can go bad very quickly because they have a lot of oil

Ethan! My husband told me about this channel of yours last night while he was watching the tomato vid. I'm so excited to find your cooking channel again. I was a bit bummed out when all you started doing on your other channel were deep dives. I still enjoy them sometimes but THIS is what I was missing from you. YAAY :D

i love this channel. it's real kitchen work, without apologies or a ton of camera editing, or explanation to bog down the flow. this channel works quite well for me

Hey Ethan, i would highly recommend NOT putting your blender in the dishwasher. It will eventually ruin it. Instead, just fill the blender 40% with water and add a couple drops of dish soap, then run on high for one minute. Then use that soapy water to clean the top of the blender and youre good to rinse and dry.

My favorite part of my Wednesday morning, love all these new cook well videos coming out! 😄

👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽 for uploading the whole thing. No one actually cooks without errors or adapting their plan as they go, plus those moments (especially the pasta water) made me belly laugh 😂

I add some lemon zest. Takes some of the “heaviness” of pesto and gives it a fresh kick

I felt that when you dropped the bowl. I’ve definitely been there!

Love these videos, shows the real process and how actually long it takes to cook. would you consider making videos like the series "Struggle Meals"? easy, cheap, and convenient

Very real and authentic cooking video, very nice ! Loved the "not feeling it " part :D

Basil pesto is a food from the gods. My father spent most of his childhood in Iowa where beef, potatoes, and a handful of vegetables like corn and green beans were what he ate most of the time. Consequently he would order things like pizza with ground beef topping when we ate at Italian restaurants. I was in my mid 20's when I discovered, and fell in love with, basil pesto on pasta with sun dried tomatoes. Easily my favorite pasta salad -- with or without added protein; e.g., sliced chicken breast.

Re: pre-washing dishes - Alec over at Technology Connections has some strong opinions against prewashing so long as: 1) You're making sure your dishwasher's hot water is actually hot water, and 2) you are using powder detergent in both the prewash and main wash cups.

Rigatoni & rotini pasta shapes hold sauces well. Also, I lightly toast pine nuts for pesto. The flavor is so much better.

Another great video! I love that you retain the realism in your videos, including here with the "oopsie" on the floor. For the countless hours of video you have created on your channels, you effectively have a perfect track record. Leaving in the couple of very inadvertent mistakes adds to the quality. It does not detract. I believe it instills comfort in amateurs like me to attempt to implement your recipes. Keep up the outstanding work!