Pesto Production

First of all - thank you so so so much for all of the wonderful name suggestions!  A lot of our top choices were brought up and some great new ones to consider.  We'll just have to wait and see... we keep changing our minds by the day!

 

I don't know about you, but we've got a bumper crop of basil this year.  I've already made about 6 batches of pesto, and it still just keeps growing taller and thicker.

So I set my little farmer to work this afternoon picking as much basil as her little heart desired.  This is such a great job for the littlest of kids, because you don't have to worry about them picking the "right" part of the plant or harvesting anything under or overripe, and the leaves get so nice and large that they're easy to get a hold of.

She was utterly thrilled with her task.

After filling up our entire colander (and leaving the plants looking like they weren't even touched :),  we set to work making pesto using the following recipe.  I'm not quite sure where it came from, but it's the one my mom always uses, and it tastes delicious.

 

Pesto

1/4 cup almonds or walnuts

2 T pine nuts

1/2 t salt

1/4 t pepper

2 cloves garlic

1 T softened butter

1 cup firmly packed basil leaves

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Throw everything in a food processor or blender - except the olive oil - and process to combine.

Then add in the olive oil and process until smooth.  

Pretty easy, eh?  It can be refrigerated for about a week, and freezes wonderfully.  I make tons and tons during the summer so I can eat it all winter long.  And seriously - I eat pesto on everything.  On top of salmon and chicken, in grilled cheese sandwiches, as a pizza base, in pasta (of course), and I like to mix it half and half with mayo to use on turkey sandwiches.  Mmmm....

If you don't have any basil growing where you live, feel free to come over here and take some off our hands!