It’s that time of year when the basil is abundant. I always grow basil as it’s pretty easy to grow and I just love it. Basil can be used in salads – raw, and in cooking. I also love it as a base ingredient for pesto. As my basil was starting to flower I had to pick a lot of it to make into pesto. Because I’ve now trimmed my basil I’ll get more life out of the plants instead of going all woody.
The first time I made this pesto I followed some recipe or other but now I know the base ingredients I just put them all into the ancient food processor I have to blend.
The ingredients are:
- fresh basil (of course)
- pine nuts (I’ve also used walnuts and not noticed any real difference)
- fresh garlic
- olive oil
- parmesan cheese
I don’t use set amounts but just keep blending and adding ingredients till it looks just about like pesto should. So that’s my really basic and bare-bones recipe.
If you’re after something a bit more precise and variations to the theme try this.
After I made my pesto I cooked up some pasta, put some leftover roast chicken and some of my fresh pesto and had a delicious meal. Mmmm, mmmm.
I love basil (we’ve got umpteen plants in The Spouse of The House’s herb garden), I’ll give your recipe a whirl. Thanks 🙂
I love basil and basil pesto is delicious. In fact I’m off to cut some right now to put on home made pizza tonight :))
Ah – we get an really good basil crop here also, and pesto is a mainstay!!!
I’m not sure about the taste of basil… I do like pesto sometimes. It sounds nice, your pasta dish.
sounds great – how long does it last – my – ‘potluck recipe ‘pesto went mouldy – grew some penicillin .
I want a herb and little vegie garden to I am looking for tips.
Mine lasts a week or two, but when you make it, put it in little containers that can go in the freezer. That way you have pesto when you want.
My mom has a huge herb garden and I love her pesto…basil is such a rich herb…looks like you and JJ are having a great summer…that tent looks great, and I would be so proud of him too for staying in it all night!!!
Tried it on tuna steaks last night -fabulous!
Mentioned it in a recipe today 😉
I love basil and can’t wait until I get my vegie garden happening. I have already got some huge pots ready for my herbs. Your pesto recipe sounds good. I have bookmarked it to try it out as soon as my basil grows 🙂