Okay, now I have spent all day long on a field trip to an art museum with a bunch of 7 and 8 year olds. 10 hours???!!! Can you just imagine how I feel at this moment? Actually pretty good. A couple of glasses of wine later and some good food it all seems much better than it did!Yesterday afternoon was kind of cool though. I had gone to the organic Farmer's Market on Wednesday and had bought some organic basil and I sooo did not want it to go bad on me. Basil is pretty delicate. I decided that I would make some pesto from it to help extend it's life a little. I had a bunch of other pots in the fire during the day so I waited until after I had picked up the girls and instead of doing the regular homework we did some life lessons! I taught them how to make homemade pesto! The recipe was really easy using the food processor but they did get to get their hands into it by picking the basil. Enough about all that...here's the recipe.
Basil Pesto
2 cups fresh organic basil
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
4 medium sized garlic cloves, smashed
salt to taste
Pick the basil leaves from the major stem and crush in the food processor. Add the parmesan cheese, add the olive oil slowing while the food processor is running. Add all of the other ingredients.
This should be good in the refrigerator for about 1 week. If you leave out the Parmesan you can freeze this, thaw it out and add the Parmesan and use then.
This is an excellent way to preserve fresh, seasonal produce!
As Always...
Happy Entertaining!!!
Judy
www.nofearentertaining.com
7 comments:
oh I can already smell those fragrant basil! this is lovely, just add to the pasta!
Man I love pesto! It's like getting a veg and a sauce all in one! :)
Thanks for the vote of confidence at the Leftover Queen's forums. That really made my day.
Yum. I'm such a basil newbie, I only *just* fell in love with the fresh stuff this last summer, can you believe it? My husband adores pesto, though...pesto pasta in particular. Tell me, can you successfully freeze this recipe, too, or is it best fresh, like you say, for a week?
Thank you for the recipe. I am always seeing dishes with this in it but I didn't have a recipe. Okay I didn't feel like looking for one either. lol
big boys oven-Had it with fresh gulf shrimp and pasta - big yum!
Heather-the veggie part does take some of the guilt away of the oil and cheese doesn't it?
Farmgirl-dk - Just omit the Parmesan and then freeze it. When you thaw it out add them Parmesan and you should be good!
Jasmine31 - super easy to make too!
I love making fresh pesto, I make it in a pestle and mortar just so I can savour every minute of that glorious scent!
Hey...guess what I just finished making? :-) It's yummy...made with fresh, organic basil that i grew from seed and cut from my very own garden yesterday evening! But I find I have another question for you on freezing pesto...just why can't i freeze it with the cheese in it? I've heard that people can freeze cheese, but does it do something funky in the pesto if you freeze it? Please oh please, wise Judy, share your cheese-freezing wisdom with me! :-)
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