[Aces McGee]

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3. Add a healthy chunk of cream cheese to the pesto.

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I wonder how popular this is. My mother's pesto recipe calls for cream cheese and it is hands down the best pesto I have ever eaten, by a significant margin. I remember the first time I saw pesto that she hadn't made; I was stunned at how dark the green color was (the cream cheese makes the color a lot lighter).

I've never seen anyone else who makes pesto this way, but I urge all of you to try it.

I think that these cooking threads tend to assume too much cooking skill on the part of the OP (which is okay, since other, more experienced people read the threads -- and it's a good reminder that good cooking isn't all that hard). So while this might not be "basic" enough, I just want to point out that fresh pesto is really easy to make if you have a food processor. A few cups of fresh basil leaves, some olive oil, a block of cream cheese, a handful or two of grated parmesan (not the powdered stuff), and a bunch of garlic is what I use. Takes almost no time at all.

-McGee