Pesto

I love summer produce, especially in my own garden.  But somehow fall always creeps up on me.  One minute I am harvesting tomatoes and cucumbers aplenty.  The next minute it is Thanksgiving.  Which also means that I have neglected one of the most important gardening steps: saving/storing the harvest!  Each year it is the same.  I spend all year tending dutifully to my basil plant…it becomes a grand thing of beauty… and the cold comes, I fail to harvest it on time and by the time I get around to turning it into pesto, the leaves turn a dark brown the minute I put them in the food processor.  Sure the pesto still tastes ok, but no one wants brown pasta.

Thankfully I have found a solution!  The key is to blanch the basil leaves before turning them into pesto.  Now if you are smart and have harvested your basil to make giant batches of pesto well in advance of the cold front, you probably won’t need this step.  But if you are like me (or worse and find with this hot weather, you still have not made your pesto) fear not.  This simple step ensures beautiful and tasty pesto year-round.

Now I have heard the best pesto is made in a mortar and pestle, but I’m a little lazy when it comes right down to it, and a food processor pesto is what I’m looking for.  Cut your plants down, harvest only those leaves which still look green and healthy, blanch the leaves, place them quickly in an ice bath, ring dry and proceed to make delicious pesto.  I usually make a giant batch at the end of the season and freeze them in ice cube trays.  Once frozen, turn the ice cubes of pesto out into freezer bag, and pull out throughout the winter as needed.

The quantity of oil in this recipe creates a very thick pesto, perfect for spreading on sandwiches or pizzas.  For a thinner sauce that is best for coating on pasta, just add some olive oil!

Pesto
Adapted from The Kitchn

6 cups gently packed basil leaves (5-6 oz)
½  cup toasted pine nuts
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp kosher salt
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

Prepare an ice bath.  Briefly blanch the basil in boiling water and immediately place in the ice bath.  Drain the basil, dry in a salad spinner and then ring it fully dry in a clean (preferably linen) kitchen towel.

Place half of the basil in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment or blender.  Add the nuts, cheese, garlic, and salt and process or blend until the ingredients are finely chopped.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the remaining basil.  Process or blend until a uniform paste has formed, stopping and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.  With the motor running, stream in the olive oi.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl or pitcher and continue blending as needed until the olive oil is emulsified into the basil and the pesto looks uniform.  Taste the pesto and add more salt, garlic, nuts or cheese as needed.

Note: if you are blanching your basil leaves, measure the dry leaves before blanching.