Have a large bowl of ice water standing by. Drop the spinach into boiling water for only about 30 seconds.

Drain immediately and plunge the spinach into the ice water.

Drain and lay the spinach out on a few layers of paper towels and pat them dry before adding them to a blender or food processor along with the Parmesan, pepper, pine nuts and garlic.

I toast the pine nuts in the oven on a cookie sheet for a few minutes but you can toss them in a non stick saute pan for a couple of minutes until they begin to brown a little. Either way, watch them carefully, they can burn quickly.

Process on medium speed until the spinach and other ingredients begin to form a paste, then reduce the speed to low and begin slowly drizzling in the olive oil. If you want to use the pesto as a dip you can cut back on the amount of olive oil to make it thicker.

Makes enough pesto to coat about 1/2 pound dry pasta, like pappardelle, when cooked; enough for 4 servings.

Store any leftovers in the fridge.