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Pesto



I made my first batch of pesto with my prolific basil plant and have enough from this plant for maybe a dozen more batches.


Pesto is simple to make and easy to freeze so you can keep it  on hand for a quick meal.   There is nothing like taking frozen pesto from your freezer, thawing it out, toss it with pasta for a taste of summertime freshness for dinner.  It's like a bite of your summer garden.  

Traditional pesto is made from Genoese basil, a smaller, more tender and fragrant basil plant that originated in Genoa, Italy.  Pesto is a generic term used to describe anything made by pounding but traditionally pesto refers to a creamy sauce made of pin nuts, basil and garlic.  Pounding with a pestle and mortar is the original method of making pesto and that is how gourmet chefs will still made true pesto but for those of us who like to use our food processors for the sake of saving time, here's the modern version of making pesto.

Make about 3/4 cup

1/4 cup pine nuts
3 cloves of garlic
2 cups of packed, fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
kosher salt
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1.  After picking the basil leaves, gently wash in a pan of water. Dry by patting with paper towels or spinning in a salad spinner.  

2.  Place pine nuts, garlic, basil, oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and Parmesan cheese in a food processor.  Pulse the machine for about 1 minute, stopping as necessary to scrape down the sides of bowl.


Don't go past the chunky stage or end up with a puree.   You want it to be a little chunky.  

Pesto is typically tossed with hot trenette (wide, flat pasta similar to linguine) or cooked potatoes.  I used tagiatelle pasta in the above photo.  Now, enjoy your fresh garden taste of basil all year long.


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