Today my sister in law sent me the link to an Organic Gardening site on the internet. This link was basically to a page on basil and how to make pesto instead of drying excess basil, as in the drying process so much flavor was lost.
YES!! It was a great little article on basil and pesto in particular. I love pesto, and I make and freeze it every summer. I have recently found out that if you quickly blanch the basil leaves, then they don't turn brown. I've been less than enthused in past years when the bright green basil turns a muddy brown within a short time of processing it. Tastes fine, but doesn't look so great. So a quick blanch in boiling water, then remove the leaves to paper towels and let dry a bit before making pesto, and it stays bright and green and beautiful in the refrigerator or frozen, and the taste is just as fresh and has no degradation at all. So try that too. I'm going to try like they said on this web site to just process it with the basil and olive oil making a paste and freeze it in ice cube trays. Then I can drop one into roasts, sauces, soups, etc. and flavor it the way I want without the garlic and parmesan getting in the way if I want to do something less traditional.
I noticed their recipe called for basil, garlic, cheese, and olive oil...no pine nuts. While pine nuts, or pignoli, are traditional, I don't use pine nuts in my pesto...they are just too expensive...but instead, I use basil, garlic, olive oil, Parmesean Romano, and walnuts. It tastes great! My friend Priscilla (a frugal woman who loves organic and quick foods that taste good), turned me on to using walnuts a few years ago, and I've been doing it ever since.
I've also done a wonderful pesto using pumpkin seeds, cilantro, garlic, cotija cheese and olive oil. Really really good--especially on fish. Or mixed with sour cream or cream cheese (softened with a T. of milk to make it more easily dipped or spread) as a dip or spread on toasted baguette. Or spread it on flour tortillas, then put on some shredded chicken, a little more cheese, fold in half and grill for a great quesadilla. Or make a tostada and put refries on the shell, then spread the cream cheese and cilantro pesto mix on it, then shredded lettuce, chopped fresh tomatoes, and some green chili salsa. Oh sooooo good.
So those are my tips for basil and pestofor the day! Okay making myself hungry now, so think I’ll head to the freezer to pull out some pesto.
OOH, I like the idea of blanching the leaves. And yes, some of the best tasting pesto I've had came from a batch Priscilla made with Thai basil and walnuts. Oh, YUM!!!!!
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