Pesto

Basil

Pesto generally refers to a sause used on pasta made of crushed basil and garlic with olive oil, parmesean cheese, pine nuts and hot, red pepper. However, there are many variations on pesto. You can substitute walnuts for the pine nuts or omit the nuts altogether and still have pesto. You can even make pesto out of garlic scapes (see earlier blog entry) or arugula.

By far the most popular pesto is made with basil. Italian basil. While we grow Thai basil and purple basil among other varieties at One Love Farm, by far the most popular variety is Italian Large Leaf Basil. Most people buy our basil to make pesto, but some use the bail in garden salad or with cut tomatoes and mozerella cheese for Caprese salad.

Besides serving on pasta, there are many other ways to serve pesto. French cooking often uses a variation of pesto, called pisto, in soups. We often use pesto as a marinade for vegetables before grilling. It is also good with grilled tofu. Whatever your use for bail, now is the time of year to get it in New England, while it is local and in season!

Garlic

Pesto:

One big bunch of basil, leaves only

One clove garlic

Olive oil

Toasted pine nuts

Parmesean Cheese

Crushed Red Pepper

Salt

Mince garlic clove in food processor

Put basil leaves in food processor, but do not overfill.

Drizzle in olive oil until pesto becomse a smooth paste

Add toasted pine nuts and grated cheese and pulse. Add more olive oil if needed.

Add salt and crushed red pepper to taste

Pesto can be frozen and kept in the freezer up to a year or longer. However, I have found it best that when freezing to omit garlic, cheese and nuts as they can discolor and get bitter. I have also found it best to freeze pesto using less olive oil. Once thawed, you can add in garlic, cheese and nuts and additional olive oil.