Basil Pesto & Lemon Basil Pesto
Wow the basil is growing like crazy! It’s time to make pesto. Pesto is a great way to use a lot of basil leaves and it also freezes wonderfully. I have found that the basil leaves do not freeze very well; they turn brown and lose their flavor. But Pesto on the other hand is very freezer friendly. I will show you step by step directions, it’s easy… just 5 ingredients. Traditional pesto calls for pine nuts, but I read about substituting walnuts or almonds for pine nuts. Let me know if you try it. I also use less oil in my pesto, some recipes will call for up to ½ cup of oil. I freeze mine in a freezer bag and it stays fresh. In fact I found some in the freezer from last season and it tastes the same and didn’t lose its color. I also make Lemon Basil Pesto, it is great with seafood. There are a million things to do with pesto! I will post on that later.
Basil Pesto
5 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cups rinsed, packed basil leaves
¼ cup pine nuts
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese*
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Lemon Basil Pesto
5 garlic cloves, peeled
3 cups fresh lemon basil leaves, packed, rinsed, dried and stemmed
Zest of one lemon
¼ cup pine nuts
1/3 cup grated Pecorino Romano Cheese*
3 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
Pick either lemon basil pesto or basil pesto ingredients and continue with the recipe. In a food processor with the motor running, drop garlic in; process until finely chopped. Scrap sides of bowl and process again. Add the basil, process until smooth. Add pine nuts, (add lemon zest if making lemon pesto) and cheese; process until smooth. Scrape down sides of bowl; process again until smooth.
With the motor running, slowly drizzle in olive oil and process until incorporated.
With a spatula, scrape the pesto into a sealed container and refrigerate until needed. It will last 5 days in the fridge. When storing in the freezer, place in a freezer bag, press and flatten the pesto to fill every corner of the bag. There shouldn’t be any air in the bag. Seal and lay flat in the freezer to freeze. By pressing it thin, it will be easy to break off a piece when needed for later use.
*you can use any of these cheeses; Parmesan, Romano or Asiago.
