This year, the basil and I were not on the same wavelength. I wasn't ready for it to be picked. It picked up on my resentment and went to seed in protest. It takes over an hour to pull off all the little leaves - and that's the reason I let it sit in the garden so long.
At any rate, we kissed and made up and ended up with a beautiful batch of pesto.
When it's time to make pesto, I go to the bigbox store and get a gallon of olive oil and a gargantuan jug of parmesan cheese. Usually, I count on Herb's Crushed Garlic. It's a fabulous product that is so easy to use and tastes just like, well, crushed garlic.
Unfortunately I didn't have any so I had to peel 3 heads of garlic. (I smash each clove with the flat side of a big knife and the peel just falls off. Cousin Amy has a little gadget that you roll the clove in with the same effect. It's a bit of work, which is why I like Herb so much.)
I know the recipe says 2 cloves of garlic, but I don't think I've ever used such a small amount of garlic in anything. This recipe is one that Marilyn and I used when we were starting out making pesto, but I have to say, these days, I mostly eyeball and taste it. ( I know, shocking.)
First I throw as much basil into the processor as will fit plus a head of peeled garlic. I put the lid on and whirl while adding glugs of olive oil. When it is liquid-y, I dump in a bunch of parmesan and whirl some more, adding more olive oil until it looks like the right consistency.
Then I taste it. Whatever seems lacking, I add more of. I don't use pine nuts because I don't like them.
But feel free to follow the recipe.
Pesto
2 cups fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil (or more to make right consistency)
2 cloves garlic
2 tbsp pine nuts (optional)
1/2 cup parmesan, grated
Like I said in the preamble, you
can add more or less basil, garlic and parmesan depending on what you have on
hand or what you want it to taste like.
I freeze my pesto in meal-sized portions in ziploc bags. It's a welcome sight in the winter.
No comments:
Post a Comment