Monday, July 29, 2013

Basil Pesto


Summer time brings the abundance of fresh basil in the garden.  Recently we pulled a huge stalk of it out to make some more room for the tomatoes to grow, the basil was starting to strangle the tomato plant.  It would be absolutely wrong to get rid of this stalk, and well one can only use so much basil before it would go bad.  So yes it would make for wonderful fresh pesto.  Then the same problem arises one can only eat so much pesto quickly.  So today I made a bunch of pesto and froze it.  It thaws quickly.  And the use of an ice cube tray to freeze the pesto in small portions makes it just that much easier to take out only what is needed.






Needed:

2 cups of fresh basil leaves
2-3 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
salt to taste
1/4 olive oil (more if too thick)

Throw all ingredients, up to the olive oil, in a food processor.  Blend, while blending start to pour the olive oil in.  Taste.  Add salt and more olive oil if needed.


To freeze the pesto, scoop pesto into ice cube trays.  Allow to freeze completely.  Then pop out the cubes and store in a freezer ziploc bag.  *I used a regular ice cube tray but needed a butter knife to help get them out, it might be easier to use a silicone tray that can be maneuvered easier.








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