19 September 2011

Pesto

My neighbor Georgia has a huge basil bush in her front yard and she always tells me to come over and cut some. It was getting plenty of sun and rain this spring/summer and was growing out of control. In fact it got so big it overpowered her thyme bush and almost suffocated it to death. The other day she decided it was time to cut most of the basil and to make her yard weed free. She ended up sharing a whole bunch with me and our other neighbor.

I plucked all the leaves, threw out the stems, washed and stored it in the fridge. Since basil is quite delicate it can’t be stored for that long. I had so much I didn’t know what to do with it. One can only use that much basil.
I’m telling you, it was quite a lot! This is the bowl I use for mixing dough and I had enough basil to fill it all to the rim.

What do with all these freshly plucked leaves? What else then to make pesto! So pesto it is…only one problem…I don’t have a food processor. Up to now I haven’t been missing it…but at times…it can be darn handy. I didn’t feel like grinding it by hand so I decided to use my stick blender. Not the best choice, but it was better then nothing.


I used one garlic head. Well it wasn’t actually a head it was more like a bulb. Have you ever seen these? They’ve been selling then here just for the last couple of years. It’s like one giant garlic glove. Very easy to peal and just as good as “normal” gloves.  
I toasted about 50 gram of pine seeds till they were nice and brown and threw that with the basil. Then I added about half a small cup of olive oil, some salt, pepper and about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice. I didn’t have any parmesan cheese and I’m ok with that. Not much of a cheese fan, but feel free to add as much as you like.
It took quite some time to blend it all together and it was splattering every where! Little green spots all over my kitchen *sigh*. So only use a stick blender if you don’t have a choice.

It was enough to fill 2 cups and I have to say...it tasted soooo good! I now need to find some recipes to use all that nice pesto. Idea’s anyone?


Ps:
This morning I noticed that the pesto has turned slightly brown on top. It’s reacting on the oxygen. I poured a layer of olive oil on top hoping that it would help a bit.
Also I read that to keep the nice green color you need to blanch the basil first before you blend everything together. I just don’t remember where so I can’t give credit.

15 comments:

  1. WOW! Beautiful green pesto!! I have to admit that I still haven't tried making pesto yet. I think I need lots of pesto recipes first before making a huge amount of pesto. Besides sandwich and pasta... I need more various recipes. What do you like to use pesto?

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  2. I don't mean to giggle but the thought of you fighting with that pesto with a stick blender makes me smile a bit :) It turned out beautifully though so it looks like it was worth the green spots around the kitchen!

    By the way, I've given you an award over on Deep Dish :)

    http://psdeepdish.blogspot.com/2011/09/frosted-robin.html

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  3. I have heard so much about pesto, but Did not give it a try yet! Pesto is definitely healthy and very popular! I have your recipe now, shall give it a try soon!!

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  4. I can just picture this pesto fight with your stick blender hehe..

    My first visit from The Deep Dish. This is some nice looking pesto. I posted a recipes for a sausage pesto savory roll on my blog not too long ago,you can check it out on The Tiny Skillet. I also like to use it on pizza, it's good when you make a white pizza. Or as always a good sandwich or wrap spread and on pasta.

    Now I need to look around your lovely space here a little more.

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  5. Yummy.....pizza is always a fun choice for pesto...but I am a little pizza obsessed.

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  6. Love pesto sauce. I like it in pizza and pasta.

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  7. So many great ways of using pesto, but I think I’d go for some pesto rolls. I want to make it so bad but it’s almost 10 pm and getting kinda too late to experiment in the kitchen. Guess I have to postpone it to tomorrow.

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  8. What a great recipe and SO cool that you had that much basil! I have plants and I always end up using them so much they stop growing...*sigh*. The pesto looks amazing!

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  9. your pesto look great,i laugh my self about the green spot everywhere,becuase i always make a mess in my kitchen :) sometime we have to use the kitchen equipment what we have,,,as long as it work and taste great,make it work :) i did all the time
    ridwan

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  10. Lily, I love pesto. So simple to make make but full of flavour. Thanks for sharing my dear. xoxo..

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  11. Lilly, first I'd like to thank you so your kind comment.
    I love pesto and spite of having a big basil plant, I yet have to make my own pesto sauce. Yours look wonderful and very pretty.
    Hope you are having a fantastic week :-)

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  12. You are so lucky you have a nice neighbor who shares her yummy basil!! You should freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray. I do that with any left overs I have when I make pesto. It comes in so handy!!

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  13. Thanks for the tips, your pesto looks delicious! Nothing like fresh basil...mmmmm!

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  14. Homemade pesto is the best! Great way to use up all that fresh basil!

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  15. I’ve finally made pesto rolls and used one jar of pesto. JOEHOE only one more jar to go. Yeah I thought about freezing it, but then I end up throwing it out anyway. So now it’s in my fridge I try to use it asap.

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