Infused Pesto Pasta Recipe for Summer

With the summer heat on the rise, pesto sauce offers fresh flavors and vibrant colors to complement the season’s light and refreshing dishes. Even better, this sauce is largely oil-based, making it easy to infuse cannabis. To enhance your next pasta dish, here is a creative and delicious recipe for cannabis pesto sauce that you can make using your own homemade or store-bought cannabis-infused oil!

The Evolution of Pesto Sauce

Pesto is a sauce that traditionally involves combining garlic, basil, pine nuts, cheese, and olive oil into a paste or loose puree. The word “pesto” comes from the word “pestare,” or “to crush,” which refers to the method used to combine the ingredients traditionally involving a mortar and pestle. 

The iconic sauce has evolved from an Ancient Roman aromatic paste called moretum, which was made by crushing together herbs, cheese, and pine nuts. Another old recipe thought to be a precursor to what we conventionally call pesto is gliadda (gliata), a garlic-based mortar sauce that was used in the 13th century to preserve cooked foods. 

Today, we are most familiar with the pesto that originated in Genoa, a city in the northern Italian region of Liguria, in the second half of the 19th century. The first mention of the sauce by name appears in La Cuciniera Genovese, written by Giovanni Battista Ratto in 1863. The original recipe reads: 

“Take a clove of garlic and some basil—or if you don’t have basil, use marjoram and parsley—along with grated Dutch cheese and Parmesan. Add a few pickles and a small amount of butter, then pound everything together in a mortar until it forms a paste. Gradually stir in plenty of fine oil to loosen the mixture. Use this flavorful blend to season lasagna or gnocchi (trofie), thinning it with a bit of hot, unsalted water to reach your desired consistency”.

Since our recipe is meant to be easy and versatile, feel free to adjust the ingredients and steps to suit your taste. Get creative!

Unlike Ratto’s recipe, ours will not require you to use a mortar and pestle. Also, to make this sauce versatile, we chose base ingredients that ensure that this recipe can be enjoyed by both vegan and gluten-free individuals.

Veriheal’s Cannabis-Infused Pesto Recipe

Ingredients:

2-3 cloves garlic

¼ cup toasted walnuts or pine nuts

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

¼ teaspoon salt

Fresh ground pepper

2 cups loosely packed fresh basil leaves

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil 

Cannabis-infused oil, adjusted to the desired dosage (see tips section below).

Read: How To Make an Apple Pipe: Step-By-Step Guide (With Pictures!)

Steps:

1. Pulse the garlic, walnuts/pine nuts, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a blender or food processor until the nuts and garlic are finely chopped.
2. Add basil leaves, then pulse again until leaves are finely chopped and well incorporated.
3. With the food processor or blender running, gradually drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil. 
4. Stop blending and add your cannabis-infused oil. (If you are using a solid oil, you may need to melt it first. Place an amount of the solid oil in a zip-top bag, then immerse the bag in hot water until the oil is melted.)
5.  Then pulse until the ingredients are smooth. You may need to add more extra virgin olive oil between pulses if you want to make your sauce looser, especially if you only used a small amount of cannabis-infused oil. 
6. Either serve immediately or store in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to 2 weeks. 

For serving your sauce, the options are bountiful! This sauce is, of course, great with pasta, but you could also try this pesto in a sandwich, on top of avocado toast, or tossed in a spring green salad. 

Tips before you get started

1. Dosing your cannabis oil: If you are using store-bought cannabis oil, refer to the dosing guide on the packaging and adjust the amount you add to your sauce based on your personal preference for potency. If you want to make your cannabis oil, check out these recipes for cannabutter or cannabis coconut oil. You may also want to refer to our edible dosage calculator to get started with your measurements. 
2. Use quality olive oil: Using real premium olive oil in a pesto sauce is ideal for achieving authentic and robust flavors in your dish. It is best to look into certified olive oil brands due to controversy surrounding adulterated olive oils that are diluted with inferior oils in certain mass-produced options.
3. Try personalizing your recipe: This recipe is a great place to start if you want to get more creative! You can try substituting some of the basil for another herb, like parsley or rosemary. Maybe you want to add some garlic, Parmesan cheese, or red pepper flakes. Or you might want to have more of a pesto dip, in which case you could use less olive oil in the third step. 

Pesto sauce has a history dating back centuries, and today it is a beloved classic in modern cuisine. Whether tossed with pasta, drizzled over grilled vegetables, or spread on warm bread, this sauce’s vibrant flavors and fun versatility make it an ideal pairing for your summer dishes. Even better, now you can elevate the pesto experience with the addition of cannabis-infused oil. So unwind this summer by adding a unique twist to your pesto dishes, and take in the long days and warm weather ahead