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Pesto - dinner in about 10 minutes. I usually toast all of my pine nuts as I buy them, since almost all recipes ask you to toast them anyway - raw pine nuts will give you a belly ache. So, with that done, you can whip up a pesto faster than you can cook the noodles! Fast dinner! And easy-peasy.


For information on planting, growing & harvesting Basil, click this link to view the gardening page of my website. Mama Szasz Gardening Tips

 

FRESH BASIL PESTO

4 cups fresh Basil Leaves

3 Garlic Cloves
½ cup Pine Nuts - toasted
½ cup Parmesan Cheese - grated
½ cup Olive Oil
Salt to taste

To toast the pine nuts, place them on a sheet of tin foil & bake them for 4 minutes at 400. I use my toaster oven, just hate heating up a big oven just for this little bit. Let them cool completely before you mix them with the basil.

 

Blend basil, garlic, pine nuts & cheese (I didn't have any parmesan, so I used the hard gruyere, & it was great too) in a food processor, scraping down the edges as necessary. While the blade is running, drizzle in olive oil.

Add the salt & toss the pesto with some pasta - voila! Dinner’s done. And this is MY recipe, tried & true, so no worries - cook on with no fear!


Variation: I happen to have some fresh mozzarella in the frig & tomatoes flying out of my garden with wreckless abandon, so I’m dressing it up a bit. I’m chopping 2 tomatoes & a ball of the mozzarella, & setting them on top of the pesto pasta just before serving (add a little extra salt if you‘re a salt freak like me).

If you’ve ever had a Tomato/Mozzarella/Basil Salad - try this! Holy moly!

 

 

What to do with the pesto if you have a garden that goes a little basil crazy:
Usually at the end of the season, I end up with more basil than I know what to do with, so I make loads of Pesto. You only use small amounts of Pesto at a time, so I put it in ice cube trays & freeze them:

Once they’re frozen in cubes, I put those cubes in a big zip lock baggie & keep that in the freezer, using the cubes as I need them: on pasta, in soups, or in a few yummy recipes I’ll post below.(I have not yet tried these recipes, but they look interesting enough to give a whirl)

CREAMY PESTO DIP

8 oz. cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
3 tblsp. pesto
Mix, beat until smooth & serve with pita chips

PESTO EGG SCRAMBLE
8 eggs
1/4 cup goat cheese
salt to taste
3 tblsp. pesto
Whisk the eggs, cheese & salt, scramble in a buttered skillet until set. Top with the pesto & serve.

COLD PESTO PASTA SALAD
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tblsp. pesto
2 tblsp. mayonnaise
Blend all ingredients well & toss with cooked, cooled pasta (elbow or cavatappi or . . . )



I also have Perilla (Wild Japanese Basil) growing uncontrollably all over my yard, so I'll post a recipe for Perilla Pesto below, in case you have any of these beauties in your yard too:

  

PERILLA PESTO

      

When I first moved into my house here in Missouri, I found this crazy purple plant growing all over my yard! I just kept pulling it & pulling it, like a weed! Derr. Come to find out, it's a yummy Japanese Basil called Perilla! One of the many good finds at my house!

4 cups fresh Perilla leaves
1/3 cup pine nuts - toasted
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup olive oil
Parmesan cheese - in fat shreds
Kalamata olives

Combine first 4 ingredients in food processor until well ground &, while the blade is running, drizzle in the olive oil.

Toss this with some pasta & serve with a little parmesan & a few kalamata olives on top. This Pesto definitely has more "meat" to it, a heavy kind of nutty flavor, a little strong, so serve it with a really simple salad. Maybe just lettuce, cucumber & tomato with just salt, pepper & a little vinegar & oil. This gives a fresh, light compliment to the boldness of this Pesto.