Pesto Pizza

1. I HATE COMCAST.  I want them to make my internet start working again so I can stop calling them every two hours.  Doesn't it seem like an "outage" that has been affecting my apartment for a day should also affect the coffee shop on the first floor of my building?  I think so, but cable companies defy logic.  (In Stephen Colbert voice) Comcaaaaaaast!  

2. I LOVE PIZZA.  I love pesto, too.  

I love making pesto because you can use different combinations of ingredients depending on what you have around.  This time I used basil, walnuts, garlic, parmesan, and olive oil, but you could use pecans or pine nuts, lemon juice, parsley, or anything else you can think of.  

Start out by toasting about 1/3 cup walnuts.  

Rinse a bunch of basil and add it to the food processor.  I'm not really sure how much I started with - maybe one package.  You can always add more later, so start with less and add more as you go.

Add the toasted walnuts, about 1/3 cup parmesan (grated or in chunks), a couple cloves of garlic, about 1/3 cup olive oil, salt and pepper.  

Pulse it until everything is chopped up and combined.  

Then add olive oil until it's a decent consistency.  You don't want it super runny, especially on a pizza, but you don't want it super dry either.  Taste it and add more ingredients to adjust the flavor to your liking.

Don't worry about making too much pesto.  You can use leftovers for a variety of things.  Either plain or mixed with a little mayo and spread on a sandwich.  Watered down with more olive oil and used as a salad dressing.  Or on pasta.  What a novel idea.  

I don't know what it is with the people I cook with, but when I say less is more they ignore me.  I could say it until the cows come home, and it would have the same effect as me saying nothing at all.  My mom was in charge of assembling a pesto pizza, and I went about making two others.  

"Less is more, Mom."  I swear I said it at least once.

And I turned around to face a piece of dough with enough pesto to choke a horse.  

Then came the cheese.  When it rains, it pours.  

I'm pretty sure this is not what my doctor had in mind when she told me to make sure I get three servings of dairy every day.  

Super doses of cheese on a grilled pizza lead to cheese melting onto the grill.  FYI.  

Here's the end result.  Even though I still firmly believe that less is more - especially when it comes to pizza toppings - it was pretty good.  And chock full of calcium.