Pesto Dreams
I've been on holiday, and missed last week's post! I'm working on something longer, but in the mean time, here's a mini post.
My pesto dreams have come true! The aphids were kept at bay long enough for my sunroom basil to grow into a little basil forrest:
And then a couple days ago I spotted a few aphids on the basil. There was no way I was going to let those suckers eat it up before I did. I cut it all back, harvesting about 4 cups of basil leaves:
This was enough for a double batch of fresh pesto:
What a luxury! I promptly made myself some pesto and tomato on toast. heavenly!
A couple years back I found myself with a rediculous over abondance of curly parsley. I did some research and learned that you can make parsley pesto. While not as traditional or delicately flavoured as basil pesto, it is still damn tasty if you happen to love parsley (which I do). This lead to a near constant supply of parsley pesto one Fall, which is how I learned that pesto is not just for pasta dishes.
It is phenomenal spread on toast. It is also excellent tossed with a variety of veggies. It is especially nice on broccoli. It can also be tossed with potatoes, cauliflower, or other veggies before roasting. I use a simple recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I make one alteration, which is cashews in place of pine nuts. This is only because pine nuts are expensive and hard to find where I live. For the parsley version, just swap the basil for parsley. A single recipe fits very well in my little Magic Bullet blender, and takes very little time to prepare.
Pesto Sauce
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/3 cups cashews
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup grated parmasean cheese
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.
Stick it all in a blender until well blended.
My pesto dreams have come true! The aphids were kept at bay long enough for my sunroom basil to grow into a little basil forrest:
And then a couple days ago I spotted a few aphids on the basil. There was no way I was going to let those suckers eat it up before I did. I cut it all back, harvesting about 4 cups of basil leaves:
This was enough for a double batch of fresh pesto:
What a luxury! I promptly made myself some pesto and tomato on toast. heavenly!
A couple years back I found myself with a rediculous over abondance of curly parsley. I did some research and learned that you can make parsley pesto. While not as traditional or delicately flavoured as basil pesto, it is still damn tasty if you happen to love parsley (which I do). This lead to a near constant supply of parsley pesto one Fall, which is how I learned that pesto is not just for pasta dishes.
It is phenomenal spread on toast. It is also excellent tossed with a variety of veggies. It is especially nice on broccoli. It can also be tossed with potatoes, cauliflower, or other veggies before roasting. I use a simple recipe from the Joy of Cooking. I make one alteration, which is cashews in place of pine nuts. This is only because pine nuts are expensive and hard to find where I live. For the parsley version, just swap the basil for parsley. A single recipe fits very well in my little Magic Bullet blender, and takes very little time to prepare.
Pesto Sauce
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/3 cups cashews
2 medium cloves garlic, peeled
1/2 cup grated parmasean cheese
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste.
Stick it all in a blender until well blended.
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