I planted too much basil. gasp. Too much basil? It is true. I have trees of basil loaded with huge green leaves. And I will be bringing pesto something to every single potluck for the next seven years.
I picked and picked forever and I haven’t even tapped into the purple forest in the northwest corner of my plot. I would love ideas for other food preservation with basil.
The greatest trick in the universe about pesto: freeze it in ice cube trays. Many know this but I didn’t until last year and it changed my life. I no longer have to waste plastic bags that I felt obligated to fill full to minimize the waste and am then left with an entire baggie full of thawed pesto when all I wanted was enough for a fried egg sandwich. No! The ice cube trays create perfect little portions of the bright sauce.
I don’t measure things when I cook…I just check out the ingredients and go for it. This works like a charm with pesto. I use:
Basil
Good parmesan cheese (Kraft will not do. Do people use that stuff? blech.)
Pine nuts
More garlic than you think you can handle and a spousal unit who likes to chop garlic
Good olive oil (totally worth in the investment)
Salt
The trick is to start small: Add about 1/2 cup of olive oil and a hand full of basil and pine nuts to the food processor. Once that is good and smooth, add the rest of the stuff a little at a time. If all the ingredients are thrown in at once, one is left in grid lock.
Once the pesto is frozen, the darling little cubes pop right out and into the same plastic bag you have used for the last few years.
