Basil Pesto

Congratulations on your big basil harvest! If you can’t use it all up fresh, pesto is a great way to use and preserve the harvest. Most pesto recipes you’ll find are pretty much the same. Some toss in an extra ingredient, some vary the proportions by a tiny amount, but more or less, all pesto is made the same. Here’s how we make it.

Basil Pesto

Serving Size:
4-5 cups
Time:
10 minutes
Difficulty:
Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 cups freshly picked basil leaves
  • 1 cup coarsely grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup good quality olive oil
  • 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (optional to roast them first for a sweeter taste)
  • 1/2 cup pine nuts or other nut of your choice
  • salt to taste
  • fresh squeezed lemon juice to taste (optional)

Directions

  1. Only wash the basil if it’s dirty, and try not to agitate it too much when washing or you’ll release the oils into the water.
  2. Throw all ingredients together into a food processor or blender and turn it into a vibrant, fragrant, green paste.
  3. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Experiment with small batches or add ingredients bit by bit to see what kind of flavour profile you like best.

Notes

Although the finished pesto shown above is in jars, I prefer freezing my pesto in bags (silicone or plastic freezer bags). I lay the bag flat to freeze so I’m left with about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick sheet of pesto. It’s easy to break off corners of the pesto sheet as needed without having to use up an opened jar-full.