The "Besto" Pesto

Welcome to the Jungle!  In July, the sweet potato vines always engulf this section of the garden.  If one were to stand for too long in one location, you are in danger of the vines encircling your body and tying you down.  The vines are knee high and very healthy with all the rain we've gotten.

Barely holding its own in the middle of the vines are two Sweet Basil Plants like you see below:

And two Genovese Basil plants like you see below:

We really like fresh basil in cooking various dishes and love fresh pesto on pizzas with homegrown tomatoes, corn and mozzarella.  But today we're making pesto.  While standing in the vines, I pull off the healthiest leaves and fill a big measuring cup that I've brought with me that will hold 8 cups.  Once I get 8 cups of basil leaves packed down, I bring them inside and soak them in water.  We don't like bugs in our pesto!

We start grating Parmesan cheese as the recipe calls for 2 cups.

In fact, I've assembled all the ingredients.  You will need:

8 cups basil leaves

2 cups freshly grated Parmesan Cheese

2 cups extra virgin olive oil

1 1/3 cup cashew pieces

12 garlic cloves, minced

Salt and pepper

Process the basil leaves by pulsing until the leaves are uniformly chopped.  It smells great!

Add the cashew pieces and process until mixed.

Mince the garlic and pulse again until mixed.

Pour the 2 cups of olive oil into the mixture while it is on.  Once done, I scrape the sides of the food processor down with a spatula to ensure all is properly mixed.

Now is the time to add the grated Parmesan Cheese:

Pesto freezes remarkably well, so we spoon the pesto into Daisy Sour Cream containers that hold 16 ounces each.  Of course I taste it.  It is delicious!

I made two batches of pesto as described above.  I ended up with Five Pounds of pesto.  I labeled it with a Sharpie and freezer tape.

And that's it.  So simple to put together a quick meal.  Just thaw out a container of pesto and put some pasta on.  Voila!  Pesto Pasta for lunch after church.  Everyone loves it.  Pro tip: Be sure to check your teeth before going out.  Pesto tends to stick in the corner of your teeth.  That can be embarrassing!  That's experience speaking...