Right around early July your garden has an overabundance of basil, and you begin to wonder what you’ll do with it all. Does that sound familiar to anyone? Your tomatoes aren’t quite ready for a caprese salad or a quick sauce, so what do you do with the excess basil? If you leave it alone, it’ll seed and won’t be useful later in your growing season. The answer: make pesto!
This delicious “sauce” can be used in a variety of ways to dress your pasta, dip your veggies, dollop on a fried egg or slather on crusty bread to compliment your favorite sandwich. The options are, quite frankly, endless. And the process couldn’t be easier – you simply throw a bunch of fresh, tasty ingredients into a food processor and let the machine do the work for you. Minutes later, you have a bright & flavorful condiment that you can use throughout the week.
The Secret to Plentiful Herbs: Plant Your Own!
Before we discuss the simple process of making pesto, let’s first talk about basil and gardens. I am a HUGE fan of planting your own herbs. If you are fortunate enough to live in a hardiness zone that promotes herb gardening year-round – you are so lucky! Up here in hardiness zone 6, we are limited to just a few months of gardening between the frosts. However, I take full advantage of herb gardening in my trusty Earth Boxes every year, even if I never get to planting my tomatoes, zucchini and other veggie favorites. Why? Well, if you cook as much as I do, you’ll know that grocery store herbs are SO EXPENSIVE and have a very short shelf life. The quality always seems to disappoint me, and I’m often left with half used containers of moldy herbs only days after purchasing them. Huge waste of money!
Consider container gardening…
Basil seems to be the most perishable by far, so I particularly enjoy each summer’s harvest, where I can save loads of money and make delicious and healthy dishes using my own garden full of basil. I am particularly fond of container gardening for my herbs.
First, the ease and portability of container gardening cannot be beat. Plus, if you live in an area in which you cannot cultivate the soil, using containers is a no brainer.
Not all containers are rendered equal though. I’ve enjoyed using Earth Boxes for over a decade and I’ll never go back to planting my herbs, tomatoes, veggies, etc in a generic flowerpot.
Even now with the space to plant in the ground, I still prefer containers for my herbs. It’s SO much quicker to pop my head out of my door, snip whatever herbs my recipe calls for, and then pop back into the kitchen. Not only are my herbs more conveniently located, they grow like weeds in the boxes and I can harvest very healthy plants usually until October!
The photo above demonstrates basil plants that had been transplanted from seedlings < 4 weeks prior. More on Earth Boxes later.
Back to basil….
Basil is a tender and fragrant herb that compliments dishes in many different cuisines. Many people associate basil with Mediterranean cooking, but basil is also used heavily in Asian cuisines as well! It provides a fresh flavor to veggie dishes, vinaigrettes, sauces and even baked goods. For your basil to grow well all season, you need to cut it back regularly.
PRO Tip: Avoid cutting off large stems of basil to create a prolific grower. Instead, harvest from the top down, cutting off a smaller stem by a leaf pair. This is where a tender stem sprouts between 2 leaves. Snipping from this area will ensure continued growth and you won’t stunt the major stem of the plant. The more you prune/harvest, the more leaves will grow.
Here’s a super easy way to use a large amount of basil…
Four easy steps to making pesto:
1. Harvest a couple cups of basil leaves from your plant using the method described above.
2. Throw your leaves, a clove of roughly chopped garlic, a handful toasted pine nuts, salt & pepper into a food processor. Use the pulse setting to chop up everything finely.
3. Once chopped, slowly stream olive oil from the feed tube, while the machine is running. After step 3, the consistency will look like this.
4. Mix parmesan cheese (by hand) into the finished product, serve and enjoy!
Tips:
- Use the s-blade when operating your food processor.
- Use the freshest ingredients, as the flavors of this simple sauce depend on it.
- If you want to freeze this sauce, stop after step 3. Place your pre-cheese sauce in a freezer safe bowl or even an ice cube tray and freeze until ready to use. Then pull out the frozen product, thaw and add your cheese before serving.
- Feel free to substitute your favorite nuts for the pine – consider walnuts or pistachios to really change the flavor.
- Have other herbs or greens on hand? Consider using a mix of basil and either parsley or spinach or mint in your upgraded pesto. You might have to adjust ratios depending on how strong the complementing herbs are. Interested in learning about other herbs? Click HERE.
- Don’t have fresh parm cheese? Consider grated pecorino or even asiago.
- Want to up the flavor profile and make it even more fresh? Consider adding a little lemon zest and/or fresh juice to create a unique sauce with a lemony punch.
Add this sauce to fresh noodles, dip a carrot stick in it, use it as the base for a pizza or a spread for your sandwich, or just dollop it on your fried egg tomorrow AM. The options are endless, and you’ll be so happy you learned how to make pesto.
Favorite Recipe
Here’s my favorite version of pesto, though as you can see above, I doctor this recipe to make my own versions from time to time, depending on what’s in the fridge/my garden. As with all cooking, learn the basic approach, then tweak it to fit your palate and make it your own.
Giada’s Classic Pesto (Pesto Alla Genovese) | Giadzy – courtesy of Giada DeLaurentis
Additional resource: How to Plant, Grow, and Harvest Basil from The Old Farmer’s Almanac
Enjoy!
P.S. I’d love to hear how your pesto turned out. Send me a message with all the details!
