Guest Post: Basil Pesto

If you're a regular follower of this blog, then you'll know that we've been harvesting Basil from our Concrete Garden for over a  month now. In fact the rate the Basil is growing I don't see forsee any shortage of Basil occurring in the near future. Now you might be asking yourselves "What are they doing with all of that Basil?"

Well my readers, I'll happily admit that cooking is not my strong point, but luckily I'm blessed with an amazing cook for a wife, so to answer that question I'm going to turn you over to todays Guest Poster.

Lenore from

Mommy, Wait!. 

For more information on this and other recipes (Can you say Homemade Pesto Pizza!!!), you can follow Lenore on Twitter @LenoreWait

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When Chris asked me to guest post for him with a recipe using the abundant basil he’s grown in his concrete garden, I really couldn’t afford to say no. I have to live with him; he’s my husband, after all. So, I figured I’d start by sharing a recipe for one of the most basic and versatile things that you can make with basil: pesto. Its versatility is really the thing that I love most about basil aside from its intense herbaceous flavor; you can change up the ingredients based on either what you have on hand or on the flavor profile that you want to convey, plus you can use the pesto itself in hundreds of ways, both simple and complex.

 Stirred into some hot pasta with a little bit of the starchy pasta water added is probably the simplest way to serve pesto. If you add some grilled chicken and some freshly grated parmesan cheese, you have a perfect meal right there! Or, you can mix in some extra olive oil to make it a drizzle over a fresh mozzarella pizza (you can find my simple version of that pizza here), add it to grilled vegetables, or drizzle it over a tomato and basil salad as an easy party appetizer.

Anyway, without further ado, here is the recipe:

Basil Pesto

Ingredients:

3 cups basil leaves, washed
1-3 cloves garlic, depending on your preference (or, if you don’t have fresh garlic on hand, you can use ½ tbsp. garlic powder)
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1/3 cup slivered almonds (toasted pine nuts are traditional for pesto, but frankly, they are really expensive, so I substitute the almonds and really love the flavor)
1/3-1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1.       Roughly chop the garlic cloves

2.       Put the basil leaves, chopped garlic (or garlic powder), parmesan cheese, and slivered almonds into the bowl of a food processor.

3.       With the power on medium speed, slowly stream the olive oil through the top of the food processor, letting the oil combine with the rest of the ingredients.

4.       Add the oil until the pesto reaches your desired consistency, pulsing towards the end to make sure you don’t add too much.

5.       Serve as you wish or freeze!

As you can see, the directions for making pesto are incredibly simple with a food processor. Plus, the ingredients list is truly just a guideline. You can mix it up in a million ways, including changing up the herbs (try flat leaf parsley or cilantro!) and the nuts (peanuts maybe? Walnuts!) to get all sorts of unique flavors. Plus, pesto freezes beautifully. I usually freeze mine in a single container, but I know an awesome trick is to freeze it in ice cube trays, then pop out the cubes and store them in a large freezer bag. Whenever you want to use pesto, just pop out a couple of cubes, defrost, and you are good to go!

What are your favorite dishes to make using pesto? I’d love to hear about them here or over on my blog, Mommy, Wait! in Orlando, where I’ll be sharing more recipes using our garden’s produce over the next few weeks!