My basil plants are producing
beautifully this year! Every time I have grown this herb it has done well but
this year has just been beautiful, green leaf after beautiful green leaf since
right after they were planted.
I have sold them at a farmer’s market table, mixed them
up in soups, tossed them in salads and plan to layer them with fresh mozarella
and tomatoes. I have been reading all kinds of interesting ways to store basil
and I have also been craving pesto so I gathered a grocery sack full. After
giving them a good bath and spin in the salad spinner, I used some in this
thrown together recipe for pesto:
Walnuts (I know pine nuts are the standard for this but
they are outrageously expensive and these work just as well)
Olive oil (I tried to use a lot less than I’ve seen in
recipes)
Parmesan cheese (I don’t recall adding this before but
saw it in a recent recipe and happened to have some out for my son’s dinner so
I threw some in!)
Juice from 1/2 a lemon
Sea salt and pepper
I just pulsed this in the food processor a few times. It
was delicious. I am taking advice from a fellow farmer’s market table vendor
and covering it with a light layer of olive oil and refrigerating it over
night. In the morning, I will remove some of the oil and freeze it!
