Making Pesto...in lab

Yes, the title is exactly what it sounds like. Today pesto was made in my lab. Thank goodness it wasn't in actual lab equipment - someone brought in a Vita Mix.

To explain a bit more, my lab has a decent amount of cooking equipment in it. We have a mini (ancient) toaster oven, perfect for toasting my sandwiches. We also have a bread machine, which one of the lab techs uses to make fresh bread every Monday. This same person has a pretty fantastic garden/farm, and she brought in a giant amount of basil. Another lab tech brought in her Vita Mix blender, and voila - pesto was made!

I put some on my sandwich, and it was really really good. I also snagged some fresh basil leaves to put on it, since you really can't have too much basil.

Oh how I love being in a lab with other foodies :)

Here's the amounts they used for it (I think they made several batches):
2 cups packed basil leaves
2 cloves garlic (they used 3-4 per batch)
1/4 cup pine nuts
2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
s&p to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Giant bunch of basil from the garden (bread machine in the background).

This is the basil that was left after the pesto was made. There was more basil than other ingredients

Blender used

Beautiful bright green pesto!

My beautiful and very tasty sandwich

Homemade bread + pesto + basil + tomato + havarti cheese + romaine lettuce