Tuesday, July 8, 2014

Basil Love



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!