Summertime is pesto time!

Yes, I know it is not yet officially summer until June 21^st but if you were experiencing the above normal temperatures and lack of rain like we are here in Houston, Texas, you’d agree that it is completely acceptable to say that it is indeed summertime. Every year at this time poses a challenge for me when it comes to cooking. Because I am in sales and in and out of my car all day, by the time I get home from work, I am pretty well drained from the heat. And even I, who loves to cook, get to feeling too lazy to get in the kitchen. Just thinking about turning on stove burners or the oven makes me feel like I need to have a nap. So I am always looking for quick and simple dinners that are of course still very tasty. And this is where homemade pesto comes in handy. 

Years ago when I used to buy pesto in the grocery store, it was very expensive for a very small amount. I rarely purchased it and when I did, I'm not sure why but I only used it in pasta dishes. Looking back, I’ll chalk that up to my inexperience in the kitchen because now I’ll try pesto on just about anything. And more importantly, now, I make my own. One of the best things about making homemade pesto is that one decent sized basil plant when full grown will make a boat load of pesto. And if you are pretty good about watering the basil plant, once you’ve harvested the full grown plant, it will grow again and again for many batches of pesto. Seriously, I have two planters of basil and just one of them will make two full cups of pesto. A big garden pot, a $5.00 basil plant, regular watering and just a little shade, yield quite a bounty of pesto…

Pesto is incredibly easy to make and it always tastes better than the store bought variety. It is a bit time consuming because you have to thoroughly wash the basil and dry it well before processing everything together. But what is a little labor intensive on the front end in terms of time, is repaid ten-fold in how quickly and easily pesto can spruce up so many things!

Here are some ideas of foods I've enjoyed with homemade pesto...

   Grilled chicken

   Grilled fish

   Smeared on homemade pizza as the "sauce", top with thinly sliced tomatoes &

        crumbled goat cheese

   Grilled Portobello mushrooms, put pesto on after grilling

   Grilled new potatoes, put pesto on after grilling

   Mixed into brown rice

   With sliced tomatoes and buffalo mozzarella cheese

   And of course, it’s great on pasta!

A quick note on storage: I buy cute little jars at Sur la Table for $2.00 per jar and store the pesto. This pesto will also freeze well. Just add about 1/4 inch of olive oil to the top of the filled pesto jar before freezing.

And now the recipe…

Summertime Basil Pesto

adapted from Back to Basics by Ina Garten

5 cups of basil, somewhat packed down, thoroughly washed and dried

¼ cup of pine nuts

¼ cup of walnuts, using two types of nuts lightens the pine nut flavor a bit

8 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped

1 cup of grated parmesan, this can be freshly grated or your favorite brand

1- 1½ cups olive oil, depending on how thick you want the finished product, I use 1 cup

Juice of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon kosher salt 
1 teaspoon black pepper

1. Remove enough basil leaves from stems to equal 5 cups packed down and thoroughly wash and dry. This can be done in a salad spinner or the leaves can be put in a bowl of cold water and swished around to remove any dirt. Dry leaves thoroughly by laying them out on a kitchen towel or paper towels, rolling up the towel to absorb the excess water

2. In a food processor, add pine nuts, walnuts and garlic, processing 6-7 seconds until nuts and garlic are finely chopped but not pasty

3. Add basil leaves and process for 10 seconds.

4. Begin streaming in olive oil while food processor is running. Continue processing after all of the oil is added until basil is finely processed - this is a bit of a personal preference. You can make it super smooth or leave it a little bit chunky.

5. Add lemon juice and process 2 or 3 seconds to blend.

6. Add parmesan cheese, salt and black pepper and process until desired smoothness.

This recipe makes a pretty thick pesto if you use one cup of olive oil. You can add more oil while your making the pesto or as you use the stored pesto. I keep mine on the thicker side and thin it out with olive oil as I use it, depending upon what I am putting the pesto.

So go buy yourself a big pot, some soil and a basil plant this weekend! Let it grow and enjoy the rewards of homemade pesto and how it can bring some ease and simplicity to your summertime cooking!