Saturday, July 12, 2008

Pesto: A Hallmark of Summer

Summer is my least favorite season mainly because of the heat and the mosquitoes, but it still has many redeeming qualities like swimming, cookouts, watermelon and pesto :-) This week we received a half pound of fresh, locally grown, organic basil from our community supported agriculture program. One of the farmers commented to me that some people don't even take their share because they don't know what to do with so much basil. Apparently they haven't heard of pesto.

I doubled the below recipe to make enough for 4 batches. Pesto freezes well, so I froze three cups and used the other one for dinner tonight. Gary and I agreed that it was scrumptious. I put it on top of organic whole wheat pasta. It's also great on rice, or you can combine it with mayo to make a delicious sauce for fish.

Pesto

By: The Silver Palate Cookbook, modified by Charity

2 cups Fresh basil leaves, washed and patted dry
5 cloves garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 cup walnuts
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 cup Parmesan cheese
salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

1) Coarsely chop walnuts in food processor

2) Add garlic and basil and combine well

3) Add olive oil in slow stream with food processor running

4) Add cheese, salt and pepper and process briefly to combine

Makes 2 cups (enough for 2 pounds of pasta)

1 comment:

Keek said...

Yum! We love Pesto! My brother just made it for the first time a few weeks ago and it was scrumptious! I'm going to have to try your recipe - so easy and if it's anywhere near as good as your bread I'm sure it will go fast. Mom's making Charity's famous Woodstock bread this weekend. You've become somewhat of a celebrity in our family. "What are you eating?" "Oh, that's Charity's bread" Ha! Little did you know that you're name would regularly be used in an Italian family across the country...