Time to make pesto

[Bobonli]

No parmesan or cream?

A tip I stole from a food blog: as you're tossing the pasta in the green stuff, add a sliver or two of butter and a dash of pasta water. Seems simple but it kicks up the flavor, does something to round it out.

[rwsaunders]

Thanks for the tips, Bob...I'll try it out on the next batch as I eagerly await some basil from my Mother's garden. Yes, I also forgot to make mention of the Parmesan cheese.

[nrs5000]

Anyone have tips on nut free pestos? My kids like pesto pasta for lunch at school but it needs to be nut free on account of allergen policies. I have a pretty good recipe for a nut free spinach-basil pesto but am always looking for improvements.

[thomas]

Just leave the pine nuts out. Basil, olive oil, garlic, bit of salt and pepper - whiz. Then add parmesan and romano cheese into the food processor and whiz again. Devour.

When I freeze it, I whiz 2 cups basil, 1/2 cup olive oil, and one clove garlic. Then pack into 8 oz plastic containers and freeze. We try to get 18 or so in the freezer by the end of the season to last through winter, spring, and early summer. When thawed, throw in processor, add more garlic, olive oil and cheese and dash of salt and pepper and you're good to go.

[RyanDelavelo]

Anyone have tips on nut free pestos? My kids like pesto pasta for lunch at school but it needs to be nut free on account of allergen policies. I have a pretty good recipe for a nut free spinach-basil pesto but am always looking for improvements.

Would pumpkin seeds do the trick? That's what we use in the house...

[Mark Walberg]

I know I mentioned this in another thread, but we've always made the pesto fully--oil, basil, salt, nuts, cheese, butter, garlic--then frozen it. Never any issue with spoilage/bacteria.

Esch, we do this too. Fully made pesto freezes fine. If you want some of the fresh garlic, you can add a clove to the frozen stuff. ( A gtop of lemon juice and a bit of lemon zest is a nice touch, too!) The frozen pesto is great on its own, though.

[rwsaunders]

2nd harvest…post those pesto pics and other garden delights.

[rwsaunders]

It’s that time of year…first harvest and I gave four other jars to my neighbors, as their basil is so-so this year. 1983 Cusinart btw…still slicing and dicing.

[rwsaunders]

It’s round one of the lemon basil pesto…boy is this basil pungent. Mrs. RW always dries some of the harvest as well.

[rwsaunders]

Second harvest from 2 plants…”was a good year for the basil”…no disrespect towards George Jones and Jerry Chestnut.

[echappist]

Apologies as I borrow a shtick line, but wow wow wee wow, I've never seen such a fulsome bouquet of basil leaves. Most the ones I tried to grow end as lone leaves, and I don't dare to clip them, as I'm not sure if more will grow.

But holy s***, not only do you have leaves, your basil plants have flowers, too. I've never actually seen the latter.

Impressive all-around.

Inquiring minds wants to know, what cheese do you use? Walnuts or pine nuts?

[rwsaunders]

I learned my lesson in that now as soon as I see a flower, I nip it in the proverbial bud, resulting in a pretty good second harvest. I’ve also read that the taste suffers when the plant goes to flower. Last lesson, the plants seem to do better when grown in a pot as opposed to our raised beds and this year’s plants were all grown from seed, which was essentially thrown in the pot and covered with soil. Go figure.

[j44ke]

We make ramp pesto in spring and freeze it. Just leave the parmesan out. Freezing it retains the spring-like flavor nicely. Add the parmesan when you thaw the pesto out and it is a nice antidote to the dark days of winter. Basil pesto we eat immediately. Like RW said, basil tastes better - smoother? - before it bolts.

Pine nuts or almonds. Pesto needs that slightly sweet nut flavor to balance the garlic (or ramp) flavor and parmesan bite.

Right now we're whittling down a hunk of parmesan that is spectacular. Granular texture with a good bite. Hard not to eat it by itself but in pesto it is great.

[Chik]

If you haven't tried pistachio, I suggest you try it. My fave.

[echappist]

I generally use pine nuts, but I think I've used walnuts a few times. Pistachio sounds like an interesting alternative.

I also hand chop everything. Didn't have a food processor back when I first made it, and the recipe called for hand chopping anyway, so the leaves and the nuts are manually processed for a chunkier texture.

Whole Paycheck in the U.S. has a supremely salty Pecorino (made by Fulvi, can't recall if it's the Romano or the Tuscano variety) that works well. Unfortunately, the cheese is good only to dress dishes, and it would sit for months in our fridge before I get around to using it. I think I chop bits of it in lieu of grating? Can't recall. The result is much more suited for spread on bread as opposed to dressing on a pasta dish, as the chunkier, less liquid consistency made it hard to spread without a spoon. Was a good excuse for me to buy a ciabatta though.

And the real reason why I can't recall my own procedure is that as a former fat kid, I have a very difficult time saying no to a good spread like a pesto. Whole batch would be gone in two days, while I then go fret about things road cyclists fret about.

[Chik]

Here's the pistachio pesto receipt. It won't really help in using up a lot of basil, but it's lovely.

[j44ke]

Pesto + mozzarella + parmesan + figs + red onions + pizza dough

[rwsaunders]

Batch #2 on a rainy Saturday afternoon. Maybe, just maybe we’ll have a third harvest this year.

[taz]

FYI - YO!! (NickZ, the OP) has left us. I found out earlier this year. Good guy and is missed. This thread update made me smile though.

[Chik]

This does not help dealing with basil supply at all, but I might suggest substituting basil with shiso (perilla) leaves -- green or red/purple -- and skip the garlic. You might be pleasantly surprised.