For three years, I provided content to my Wordpress blog KitchenFoodGarden, which focused on sustainable gardening, nutritional diets, and recipes. I especially loved writing about recipes that I perfected in the kitchen. Here is one of my favorites.
KitchenFoodGarden
Recipe of the Week: Fresh Basil/Walnut Pesto (With Tips for Freezing)
By Mark Hubbard
It’s September, so it’s time to harvest and use or preserve your garden basil. This recipe manages to do both, making fresh pesto for a fettuccini dish and freezing the rest for later in the fall.
The fresh pesto made in this recipe can be frozen in ice cube trays for later use – see the freezing tips below. This recipe also uses walnuts instead of pine nuts for two reasons: 1) pine nuts are crazy expensive these days, and 2) I have a walnut tree in my front yard and I like to use the nuts that the squirrels don’t get.
Fresh Basil/Walnut Pesto
Yield: Makes 3 cups.
Ingredients:
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
¾ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Preparation:
Combine the basil and chopped walnuts in a food processor and pulse a few times. Add the garlic and pulse a few times more until ingredients are combined.
Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse until blended. Add a pinch of salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.
Use one cup of the pesto to serve immediately with 1 pound of cooked fettuccine tossed with 2 tablespoons butter. Reserve the other 2 cups of pesto for freezing.
Note: Freezing pesto. To freeze the pesto, line an ice cube tray with plastic wrap and fill each cube pocket with the pesto. Freeze and then remove the pesto cubes from the ice tray and store in a freezer bag. When you want to use, pull out and thaw the desired amount of pesto cubes.