Presto it's Pesto!!!!!

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I made and ate pesto for the first time in my LIFE!!!!!!

It was absolutely delicious!!!!! I cannot stress how good it was. I have not been picking my basil. I was afraid, afraid I would not like it. It was so strong!!!! So I picked it Saturday, wash it and put in the food processor with 2 garlic teeth, a hand full of pecans out of the freezer, olive oil, salt, pepper, Parmesan (shaker style) and I absolutely loved it.

My uncle cooked spaghetti with marinara on Sunday. I brought my pesto and it was a hit!!!

I froze the rest in ice cube trays. After they were frozen I popped them out and placed them in zip lock bags. I can't wait to make more and try bruschetta.

Thanks Guys for recommending I grow basil around my tomatoes.

 

[vfem]

I hear you! I make several kinds of pesto and freeze the extra for the fall and winter months when I miss basil so much!!!

I like making pesto from fresh spring spinach too... but with walnuts rather then pine nuts!

I stir it in with mayo sometime and use that as the binder/sauce for my summer potato salads... I've gotten RAVE reviews, you should try it!!!

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

That does sound yummy!!! I once had a German Potato Salad from a lady from Germany. It had some kind of green herb in it that reminded me of basil.

If you noticed I used pecans instead of pine nuts. Pecans are free for me, lol.

 

[Southern Gardener]

Yummy! Nothing better than tomato and basil!

 

[patandchickens]

Another option for freezing it is to leave the cheese and pine nuts out (they are never quite the same after freezing...), just put the basil and olive oil and garlic into your food processor or blender and freeze THAT. Then you have more flexibility -- it can be thawed and have cheese and pine nuts added for a fresher-tasting pesto, OR you can use it in spaghetti sauce, alfredo type sauces, macaroni and cheese, meatloaf, soup (at the last minute), white lasagna, white pizza, all sorts of things...

I freeze the pureed basil-oil-garlic mixture in ziploc baggies instead of ice cube trays, with the baggie only maybe 1/3 full and then laid FLAT to freeze so it freezes as a thinnish sheet from which you can break off whatever size piece you need. This uses less freezer space and offers easier flexibility, especially if you sometimes want to use less-than-icecube-sized portions (e.g. if you have basilophobic children you're trying to convert <g>)

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[hangin'witthepeeps]

I didn't realize that freezing the nuts and cheese changed it any. I freeze my pecans all the time. In fact the pecans used in this pesto were frozen from last years harvest. I'll try the basil/garlic/oil combo next time for soups. Thanks patandchickens!