2 cups lightly packed fresh basil leaves
¼ cup fresh Italian (flat-leaf) parsley
¼ cup pine nuts (Italian: pignoli)
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
½ tsp. salt
½ cup olive oil
1 Tbs. butter

Peel garlice. Place all the ingredients in a blender. Puree until the sauce is smooth, pushing down the basil leaves as necessary. When you use the sauce on pasta, reserve ¼ cup of the pasta cooking water before draining. Use all or part of this water, together with the pesto, for the sauce. When you mix the pesto sauce with the pasta, stir in enough of the reserved cooking water to provide the proper consistency.

Note: This amount of sauce is adequate to coat at least ¾ pound of pasta.
Pesto may be refrigerated for a week but should be covered with a thin film of olive oil to prevent discoloration.