My craving for pesto kicked in the second it got a bit warmer outside, but it was in full swing on Sunday as we browsed the Farmer's Market. All I could smell was basil, and well, pesto making was in order. The recipe we used is really quite simple and gave us plenty of sweet pesto-y goodness for a pound of pasta (frankly we overly dressed the pasta, but as it is, someone... not going to name names... was craving some pesto)... so here's what we did...
* four coups of packed basil leaves washed and dried
* added to four whole cloves of garlic and chopped coarsely in the food processor
* add salt and pepper (we don't add much salt as the pasta is salted) to taste as well as 1/2 cup walnuts (we didn't have pine nuts on hand but it works)
* smooth together with 1/4 cup of olive oil... add more to make it smoother if you wish and we sometimes pour a bit more over the dressed pasta...
* finish the dish with 1/2 cup of grated Pecorino or Parmesan cheese (you can add this in the food processor if you are not planning on freezing the pesto)
* add to warm pasta and enjoy... it's very tasty
Some tips for freezing... we freeze the pesto in small ball jars and with the recipe, we will get two meals (at least) as well as two tiny ball containers to be enjoyed during the winter. Make sure that the pesto is covered in the little ball jars by a layer of olive oil. This will prevent any oxidization (Rob's words) or funky brownness (mine) from making the pesto not so tasty. Also, don't freeze any that has cheese in it. Pesto, it's what's for dinner... again... I'm a happy camper!
