One can only eat so much insalata Caprese, the Italian salad made with fresh tomatoes, basil and mozzarella cheese.
So if you've got basil in the garden, or come into a big bunch of it at the market for a good price, there's only one thing to do: Make pesto.
Myriad varieties of pesto are made these days, with ingredients ranging from artichoke and lemon to cilantro, parsley and even mint. But pesto in its traditional form is an uncooked sauce made with basil, garlic, pine nuts (or walnuts, optional), olive oil, salt and grated Parmesan or Romano cheese.
Like so many good things, it originated in Italy. The word "pesto" is Italian for pounded. You can make it the old-fashioned way, with a mortar and pestle, or with a food processor.
I prefer the latter method.
The first thing you need to do is cut your basil, give it a good washing with the garden hose and let it dry for a while. Speed the process of drying with a salad spinner, if you have one.
While the basil is drying or being spinned, toast a quarter cup of pine nuts or walnuts in a dry pan over low heat until just slightly brown.
For this recipe, adapted from an old-favorite cookbook, Patricia Wells' "Trattoria,'' you will need a generous 4 cups of basil leaves. You can also throw in the little spikes on the plants, and even the flowers. You'll also need 4 plump cloves of garlic, sliced; 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste), 1 cup of olive oil and 1 cup of grated Parmesan cheese.
Begin by putting a couple handfuls of the basil leaves, the sliced garlic, pinenuts and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the basil, garlic and nuts are finely chopped. Add basil leaves a handful or two at a time and continue pulsing.
The mixture can be made as coarse or as fine as you like. Then, with the processor running, add the olive oil in a slow, steady stream. Dump the mixture into a bowl and add the grated Parmesan cheese by hand, stirring it well to combine.
Taste the pesto and add more salt, if needed.
The recipe makes enough to sauce two pounds of pasta. Serve half of it for dinner on your favorite pasta and stash half of it in the freezer. I freeze pesto using a pair of old ice cube trays devoted exclusively to that use, then transfer the frozen cubes to freezer bags or containers.
Pull out pesto cubes as needed and enjoy all winter on pasta and pizza and in soups, sauces and salad dressings.
Bueno appetito!
Hi, Nancy -- in the winter, I'll pop a cube of pesto into tomato sauce and vegetable soups, especially ones that call for a bit of fresh basil (and I don't want to buy a whole bunch). You can also make the pesto without cheese -- and add it when you use it. Or not! You could also spread some on top of a brick of cream cheese and use it as a spread with crackers or toasts for parties. Hope this helps. --margaret
Posted by: Margaret McCormick | 08/12/2009 at 09:00 AM
MM: This sounds absolutely yummy. I'm not a pasta or pizza eater. So what soups can I use this in?
Posted by: Nancy Fasoldt | 08/11/2009 at 10:09 PM