My mom's best friend taught me how to make authentic Italian pesto when I was I was in my young 20s. We did it the old-fashioned way, by chopping all the ingredients together on a cutting board with a chef's knife.  This wasn't by design. My mom hates cooking, so she doesn't have anything that actually works her kitchen. Don't get me wrong, her kitchen is pristine ... it looks like an Ikea showroom labeled vintage," but most items in her kitchen are props, even the 1950s salt and pepper shakers. So when her best friend, Joann stopped by to make pesto one day, we had to make do without a food processor. For this recipe, you can definitely use a Cuisinart, but I discovered I loved the texture of the hand-chopped pesto, and my taste buds enjoyed the fact that I could experience the integrity of each ingredient that would have otherwise been blended out. As a result, thirty years later, I still chop my pesto by hand. 

Extra virgin olive oil is the star of this dish ... use generously!