Making pesto

After working up the ground this weekend so that I could put in the Fall/Winter garden, we got 4 inches of rain yesterday morning.  I wish I could FedEx some of this rain to our neighbors in the Midwest.


Raining cats and dogs

This will definitely delay putting in the crop while I wait for the soil to absorb all of the rainwater.  This photo shows why I plant on rows.  The land is very low and floods easily with water running from east to west across the property. 


Agriculture or Aquaculture??

 No worries.  I diverted my attention to all of the wonderful basil flourishing in the garden and determined that tonight is a good night to make some pesto!  We love pesto.  The word pesto comes from the Italian word pestare which means to pound or crush.  There is a lot of pounding and crushing action in making pesto.  Pesto can be refrigerated for a week or frozen for later use.  We eat it on toasted french bread and on any kind of pasta - usually bowtie pasta.  It is a quick, delicious meal. 




Genovese Basil ready for harvest

 I'll bring out a bag and pick a big bag of it, trying to get mainly the tender, new growth.  When I bring it inside, I pick off only the best leaves, putting them in a colander.  I wish I had a dollar for every stink bug that came in with the leaves.


Picking good leaves & culling the bad ones along with the bugs



All of the culled stems and leaves go in the compost bucket.  We try to put as much as we can back into the land.



The compost bucket

The first thing we do after picking it and culling out the bad leaves and stems is to wash it up real good.  We soak it in the sink for a while and pick out bugs and worms that float to the top.  We like protein, but are discriminating about what types of protein we eat - bugs and worms are not a big favorite.  While washing, we agitate the water real good to loosen and dust and dirt on the leaves.

Washing the basil (bug bath)



Then Tricia will take handfuls of washed basil leaves and put into the salad spinner to dry off the leaves as much as possible.

The Spin Cycle

In addition to making pesto, Tricia got out the food dehydrator, set it on the herb setting and will be drying some basil so that we have dried spices during the winter time. 



Drying basil

Tricia also washed, dried and packed basil leaves in a gallon freezer bag for freezing as well.

Freezing basil

So back to making PESTO.  We use a recipe that I've quadrupled since I picked 8 cups of basil leaves.  The recipe follows: 

• 8 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano Cheese
• 2 cups extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/3 cups pine nuts or walnuts
• 12 medium sized garlic gloves, minced
• Salt and ground black pepper to taste

We have 8 cups of fresh basil leaves washed and packed.  We then grate 2 cups of Parmesan cheese in the food processor with the grating blade on it.

Grated Parmesan cheese

We throw 12 cloves of garlic in the food processor with the chopping blade and mince it up real fine.

Minced garlic

Next as an experiment we deviated from the recipe a bit.  Pine nuts are doggone expensive, so we normally buy walnuts as a replacement.  They are cheaper and you can't tell the difference in the flavor.  Well, this got me to thinking.  We have a ton of pecans.  I wonder if you could substitute pecans?  So we're going to try it.  Here is 1 1/3 cups of pecans that we'll toss in the processor and chop up real good.

Homegrown pecans

And finally, 2 cups of extra virgin olive oil.

Olive oil

In the food processor combine the basil with the nuts and add the garlic, pulsing until it is pulverized.
 

Ready to process

Then slowly pour the olive oil in a steady stream while the food processor is turning.  Stop from time to time and scrape the sides of the processor down so that everything gets chopped and mixed evenly.

Adding the olive oil

Add the grated cheese and pulse until it is mixed up.

Adding Parmesan cheese

Finally add a little bit of sea salt in the palm of your hand and throw in the processor along with several shakes of black pepper.

A dash of sea salt and black pepper

I spoon this out into three 16 oz containers and freeze them.  We find that one container will feed our family.  For a quick, healthy, delicious meal, pull one of the containers out of the freezer and let it thaw for a few hours.  Cook up some pasta, drain and mix the two up together.  You may have to add a little bit of olive oil to tie it all together.


Packed in 16 oz containers for freezing

Presto!  It's PESTO!

A couple of final notes: Regarding our experiment of substituting pecans for pine nuts or walnuts, it worked like a charm.  Of course, pesto is so tasty, you could probably put acorns instead and it would taste good.

Word of warning:  After you eat it, be sure to brush your teeth so that you don't walk around with a big green thing stuck between your teeth.  Pesto is notorious for doing this and it is embarrassing as all get-out to smile with pesto stuck in your teeth!  Enjoy.