Wednesday, September 05, 2007

Hen Day - Pesto

It is Prairie Hen Day again!!! I love Wednesdays.
Today we went to Vea's house to visit, eat good food, and make fresh pesto.
I have an obscene amount of purple basil in my garden. Enough to send every one home with a pint or two of pesto. We just kept licking our fingers. It was SOOOO GOOD!
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The pesto on the left is made with bright green lemon basil.
The pesto on the right is made with dark purple basil.
Both are very tasty.
Here is the recipe
Walnut Pesto
1/2 tsp salt
2 Cups fresh Basil leaves (2 oz)
1/3 cup Olive Oil
1/2 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Put everything in the food processor and blend well.
Makes just more than a cup when you are done.
To use: add 2-3 Tbsp to a pot of pasta with a little of the pasta liquid.
For our wonderful meal (sorry, no pictures, we ate it too fast!) we fixed sautéed chicken and zucchini with pesto sauce.
So good and so good for you!
I am making a blogging request here. Please post comments with your favorite uses for pesto sauce.

21 comments:

  1. Mmm. Love pesto. I can't eat solids so I've been trying to come up with a pesto shake idea.

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  2. We like it on our home made pizza base with some peppers and salami - yum. Or just on pasta of any sort. Or on toast with slices of tomato, topped off with some shave pecorino and cracked pepper! Or on a grilled chicken breast. It really has endless uses - yummy!!

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  3. Yumm!!
    I am fixing Pesto Burgers tonight.
    Regular cooked burger, Mozzarella cheese, tomato slice, pesto and Bun. (or in my case to grilled portabello mushroom halves)
    Pesto soup sounds good too. I will have to google that one and see if I find something fantastic.

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  4. Check out my post called "Pesto Mozzarella Grilled Cheese Sandwich". It was good!

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  5. I have never made pesto. How do you store it? How long is it good for?

    Thanks!

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  6. Karla,
    What I have heard is that you can't keep garlic in oil at room temperature. It will creat bauchalism. You should keep it in the fridge. Mine lasted a couple of weeks that way. I plan to make a bunch of this and freeze it so I can have tasty goodness all winter. I might even see if I can't transplant the basil into post indoors. We do have some mild weather here in the winter and I might be able to take it outdoors from time to time.

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  7. That pesto looks delicious. I like pesto smeared on toasted french bread with grilled eggplant, tomato, and cheese.

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  8. oh my yum yum!! do you know if this can be made without the cheese? we have dairy and soy issues.

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  9. toss with pasta
    toasted on bread
    with bruschetta, with tomatos
    as a veggie dip

    I make mine is 1 cup batches and freeze. I add the cheese right before serving.

    I also make little ice cubes of basil and olive oil to use in soups, stews and other dishes. Yum!

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  10. YUM Basil Pesto tossed with pasta or smeared on breaded fried Tilapia.

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  11. Mix equal parts pesto and ricotta, use as sauce for a white pizza with mozzarella and pine nuts. Also it's a fantastic addition to the inside of a BLT!

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  12. I love pesto, and not just on pasta, but also on sandwiches as a spread, even to jazz up a plain grilled cheese sandwich: just spread bread with pesto, add some fresh mozzarella,and sliced tomato. YUM.

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  13. French bread slices, brushed with olive oil and toasted in the oven. Then slather on some cream cheese and top with pesto. Yum Yum

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  14. Pesto-Mayo On Fresh Sliced Tomato Panini.

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  15. PestO-mayo On Fresh Sliced Tomato Panini.

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  16. I use pine nuts in my pesto, I'm very excited to try walnut. I use pesto on whole wheat pita bread with deli sliced chicken breast (the guys love buffalo chicken), provel, sliced tomatoes and lettuce. I fold it and eat like a taco, you can eat this cold or heat it up on a skillet with a little olive oil.

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  17. After pesto is made, put it in an ice cube tray (about a tablespoon per cube) and freeze. When frozen, pop out of tray into freezer bag and you can have pesto all winter. Take out a few cubes, nuke for about 15 secs. These are great on spaghetti or just about anything.

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  18. Try this wonderful Pesto on spaghetti squash especially if you are watching your waistline. Healthy and very tasty ;-) Says Fran K.White from N.W.Arkansas

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  19. Homemade pesto is tasty with small tomatoes and avocado no very dark bread.
    My recipe: A plant of basil ( all the big leaves)
    A handful pine nuts
    A handful parmesan
    2-3 garlic cloves
    Olive oil
    This is a really nice pesto with an attitude��

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  20. mix it with natural yogurt (to your taste), use it as salad dressing or dip.

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  21. I just made your pesto and let me tell you it was fantastic! Sounds kind of crazy but I never thought to make my own! Thanks for this

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