Perfect for Pesto

I have a friend who is on an amazing, month long vacation.   I'm only a little

jealous, because today I know she is at BYU Education Week taking classes

from our favorite professors.  It's okay though, because when she returns 

she will share all that knowledge with me and that's almost as good as being

there... almost.  A few days ago, she called me from beautiful Park City, 

Utah to check in, share some of her most recent adventures and to see how

I was doing.  I love the fact that distance doesn't diminish the concerns of a

friend.  Before she left, we were in the middle of a little family trauma, 

which is pretty typical around here, but still,  it's nice to know that friends

are praying for you and thinking about you even when they are on

vacation!!! 

In the course of our conversation, she mentioned her basil plants at home 

were full and ready to be harvested. It was the first year she felt like she

had been successful in her endeavors to grow basil.  She had bought all 

the ingredients to make pesto before she left, but you know how that week 

before leaving on a trip goes...crazy busy!!    Well, making pesto didn't

make it off her to-do list.

Today I did what any good friend would do.  I went and got her basil and 

made pesto for her freezer.  Letting beautiful basil like this go to waste

would certainly be a crime.  She had three large plants and I did some 

serious pruning on them.  She may be welcomed home by another crop 

of leaves.  Basil is nice that way.  Cut it back and it will grow again.

Look how beautiful this basil is.  The leaves are large and vibrant green. 

Perfect for pesto.

Pesto is so easy to make.  Traditionally, pesto is made with a mortar and 

pestle.  That's very Italian.  But the quick way is to use your food processor.

All you need are a few basic ingredients. Pesto can be made with lots of 

different things - like spinach, parsley, sun dried tomatoes, and red peppers.

The most amazing pesto I've ever had was lemon artichoke.  But this is

your basic basil pesto and it's delicious.

You will need parmesan cheese (not the kind you buy in the green

plastic container), pine nuts, garlic, fresh lemon juice, salt, olive oil

and of course basil leaves.  Pesto is a classic example of the sum being

better than the parts, even though I have to say, each one of those 

parts on it's own is pretty darn good.

Pesto can be kept in the refrigerator for weeks with a thin layer of

olive oil on top or put in the freezer to enjoy all winter.  

You can even put pesto in an ice cube tray and freeze little cubes to be 

thawed and used as needed.   Last year I had so much basil, that after

I made pesto, I also just chopped up fresh basil, added some olive oil to it

and put it in small freezer bags.  I flattened the bags so they took up very

little room in the freezer.  Whenever I wanted some fresh basil, (spaghetti

sauce, etc.)  I would just take out that bag and break off a chunk of frozen

basil and add it to the sauce.  I think it is so much better than dried basil. 

Once you have frozen pesto, it can be used in lots of ways.  Our favorite 

is probably as a pizza base.  I make a good chicken pesto pizza that 

everyone enjoys.  It can be used in pasta salads or in hot pasta dishes. 

Angel hair pasta mixed with pesto is about the easiest dinner you can

imagine.  It's good on steak or put under the skin of a roast chicken. 

Spread on bread, it will make regular garlic bread seem boring.   You

can add some vinegar and more olive oil and make a pesto viniagrette

for salads and a spoonful in a bowl of minestrone is yummy.   Are you 

getting hungry yet?

If you have fresh basil, try making pesto. It's easy and will taste better 

and be less expensive than buying it in the store.  It's one of those summer

flavors that you will savor in a few months when snow's on the the ground.

Basic Basil Pesto

2 T. pine nuts (toasted)

1 or 2 large cloves of fresh garlic

2 1/2 cups fresh basil leaves

4 T. fresh grated parmesan cheese (use the best you can afford 

              and grate it yourself in processor before adding other

              ingredients)

2 t. fresh lemon juice

up to 1/4 cup olive oil or more depending on how thick you

         like your pesto

Add first two ingredients in food processor.  Add remaining

ingredients, except oil.  Add oil last.  

Experiment with the garlic and lemon juice.  You make like

less garlic and more lemon flavor.  Or you may be like me

and like lots of garlic :) 

I made 5 recipes of this to go into the freezer jars 

shown in the above picture.