Pesto

I have a pretty nifty little herb garden. I have rosemary (scads of rosemary), thyme, oregano, sage, chives, basil, spearmint, mint, flat and curly leaf parsley. We also planted garlic that had um, pre-sprouted in the fridge (oops), but nothing has happened with it. Everything is a perennial, with the exception of the basil which I have to plant fresh every year. The parsley comes back too, despite its popularity with the ‘pitters.

We love pesto pasta, and using homemade pesto is the best way to enjoy it. I try and harvest it throughout the growing season, make pesto and freeze it in cubes for later. Other ways we enjoy the basil is with fresh tomatoes and mozzarella with a splash of basalmic vinegar and chopped up into everything we can think of. I recently saw a post for Lemon Basil Granita – if I can find it again, you know that I’ll be trying that too!

Pesto

Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil, washed and stems removed
½ cup pine nuts, toasted and chopped
½ cup olive oil (EVOO is best)
½ cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt

Directions:
Reserve a small handful each of basil and pine nuts. Put remainder of these into bowl of food processor and pulse a couple times. Add the garlic. Turn the food processor “on” and slowly pour the olive oil into the mix, then stop. Add the cheese and then pulse a few times to combine. Add back in the reserved basil and pine nuts and pulse only a couple of times. This will help make your pesto look a little less uniform or “processed”, and a little more interesting, textural and chunky looking. Taste and add salt as desired. Serve tossed with pasta or even with crusty bread slices as a dip. Leftovers can be frozen in ice cube trays and then sealed in a freeze-proof zip top bag or food-savered.

Yield: 1 cup