How many sauces have we gotten from Italy? It seems like the majority of great pasta sauces originate from there. It's not surprising either considering pasta is to the Italians like noodles are to China. Lets list a few, we got Ragù, Gremalota that's normally sever with braised veal, Carbonara, Marinara, and one of my favorites. Pesto. It came from a northern Italian village called Genoa and it has become one of the most popular sauces for pasta, chicken, pizza, or frankly just about anything you think it would work with; it does. It traditionally consists of basil, crushed garlic, European pine nuts, and you blend all of that with olive oil. A pretty simple concoction is you ask me. I made this today actually.

It's pesto chicken sitting atop a pile of mashed potatoes mixed with cauliflower. I cooked it in a crock-pot overnight for lunch and I think it turned out pretty well. I put the chicken in at about 9:30 PM with the pesto and a quarter cup of water, I set it on high for half an hour and left it on low for the rest of the night. I got up early to turn it off and from there I let it just sit it's own juices and the pesto. It tasted pretty great with easy it was to make. Personally I think pesto is a great sauce to use for a dinner when you don't have much time or can't take the time to make something more "fancy" and it's not the usual tomato sauce with meatballs. It give your a gourmet taste with a small amount of effort and that's why pesto is one of my favorite sauces. 

1. Get about 8 cups of packed pesto, it cant be leaves stacked on top of each-other in a cup I'm sure you know that.
2. A cup of olive oil.
3. About 1/2 a cup of roasted pine nuts
4. 2-4 garlic cloves
5. Half a teaspoon of salt.
6. Put all those in a food processor or blender, and blend until smooth
7. Stir in 1/2 a cup of Parmesan cheese.