All time favourite herb you ask? BASIL. Having fresh basil growing in the garden is wonderful; it can be easily added to salads, salad dressing, sandwiches, sauces, you name it. However, during the winter months I can never seem to keep the grocery store bought plant alive - if you have any tips for how to make it last, please let me know! So before the miserable season known as winter is upon us and I struggle to have fresh basil, let's take advantage of what basil we have left in our gardens, if any, and make pesto that will freeze quite well (I believe, I have never personally tried it but my cousin in italy swears by it). What's the secret to a good pesto? I think it's the addition of the pine nuts to give the pesto a unique texture - if you ask my brother, it's the garlic. Nevertheless, pesto combines simple ingredients to make something that is useful to have in anyone's back pocket. When making pesto my recommendation would to make sure that the basil is as fresh as possible, and to remove any leaves that have browned or flower buds. Once the leaves are washed and well dried (to do this I let the basil bunches drip dry for a bit then lay the leaves between paper towel) you are ready to have homemade pesto in two minutes flat! As for what to do with the pesto once it is made? Easy: PASTA!!! Cook the pasta according to the package instructions, drain well, add some pesto till the pasta is well coated and serve! Easy as 1, 2, 3! You can also used it to flavour risotto by mixing it in at the end of cooking. What's the bonus here? Due to parmesan already being present in the pesto, you don't have to add it to the risotto again and you can cheat by cooking arborio rice like normal white rice, mixing in the pesto at the end - GREAT as side dish! Other uses besides the more traditional? You could coat chicken with it before putting it on the grill, rub a little on pita bread and then bake to get pesto pita chips, use it as a spread in a variety of sandwiches of the normal or open faced type. The possibilities are endless for pesto, which is why I think it's so great. Let me know what use it for/on/with/etc.!
Happy pesto making! :)
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