Summer in Season - Basil
Wednesday, July 27, 2005 18:38
Though it is possible and practical to grow herbs year-round in LA, in other places, the high season for herbs is summer. And right about now, basil is probably attacking your garden like a weed. (Of course, you probably live in a high-density population area like me, so it’s the farmers’ and Whole Foods Market stands that are overflowing with basil.)
Making pesto from basil is so incredibly easy it’s almost embarassing. And if you’re ambitious, you can double or triple the amount you whirl around the food processor and let it hibernate in the freezer until autumn. Then you can break it out of the freezer and impress all your friends with fragrant pesto in the fall. Ooh, fancy.
Start by pulsing 3 to 4 garlic cloves, more if you have breath mints, in the food processor to break them down.
Take 3 large bunches of basil (that should be about 3 cups packed). If they’re not washed, well then wash them, germ-ball! Pluck the leaves off the stems, stuff them into the food processor, with about a 1/2 cup of pine nuts, about a 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese, and start pulsing. After the basil is fairly broken down, add about 3/4 to 1 whole cup of olive oil, depending on what kind of consistency you like, and continue pulsing until it becomes…pesto.
Add salt and pepper to taste, though parmesan cheese adds quite a bit of salt on its own.
To make it a meal, toss the pesto with cooked penne and grilled chicken.
To make it a salad, put above in refrigerator until chilled. ;)
Is this too easy or what?
By sarah (see more of her posts). You can find more of sarah's writing at her own website The Delicious Life
Jeff says:
July 27th, 2005 at 7:21 pm
Wow, I love pesto and I never realized that it was so easy to make. And it’ll probably be cheaper than buying the pre-made ones. Thanks for the tip and the recipe.
sarah says:
July 27th, 2005 at 8:28 pm
Not only cheaper, but it actually tastes different, in a better way. Up until I made it at home for the first time this summer, I absolutely hated pesto. I thought it tasted like nasty oily herbal chemicals. LOL! But homemade pesto tastes sooo fresh and fragrant.
MaxMillion says:
July 28th, 2005 at 10:10 am
It *is* dead easy to make. I like to use scissors and cut the (slightly bitter) stems of the leaves out and just use the soft leaf portions. Fold each leaf in half and ’snip’. A little fiddly, I suppose, but worth it. I did not realise you can freeze pesto. Thanks for the *fancy* tip!!
Also, homemade pesto is a gorgeous, enticing bright green, not that dead, dull, dark green hue of the bought stuff.
MaxMillion says:
July 28th, 2005 at 10:12 am
Okay, I meant cut the *spine* of the leaf out.