My herbs are staging a coup d’état in the backyard.
I’m striking back with pesto.
One of my fave 101cookbooks.com blog posts is entitled “How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother”. She’s right. It’s a brilliant recipe; however, sometimes I do not have 1) pine nut cash allowance (so expensive!), 2) oh, I don’t know 1000 extra calories to inhale a 2 tablespoon mouthful of wonderfulness or 3) time to chop BY HAND (wtf?!) a zillion leaves into a paste-like substance-I guess that’s where the grandmother part comes in for Heidi Swanson’s recipe; grandmothers have lots of extra time for this stuff.
Tonight when I realized my parsley was about to FLOWER for goodness sake, I took it upon myself to hack it all down, grab some garlic and headed to the food processor to make, “Certainly not an Italian Grandmother’s Pesto” while muttering to myself, “it’s a damn good thing I like pesto.”
Pesto from the Fridge
- 2 lemons zested and juiced
- 2 large handfuls of something delish and green from your herb garden (could really be anything)
- 4 cloves of garlic, 2 if you are not interested in vampire protection (TrueBlood starts at the end of the month)
- 1/4 C good EVOO
**To make this real pesto, add 1/2 C toasted walnuts or pine nuts, sometimes called Pinons and 1/2 C grated parm cheese to the mix then increase your EVOO as needed to get a nice puree.
Hack down a bunch of your herbs you have been neglecting, use the tender leaf part for the pesto (wash and dry it) and the stems to clean out your garbage disposal, it will make it smell better after you grind them up in there and send them to their new water home.
In a food processor, take the peeled garlic cloves, lemon juice, lemon zest and all of that beautiful greenery and blend while slowly adding the EVOO. You might need less than 1/4 C depending on how liquidy you want the pesto. I like mine a little bit on the dry side.
To store, I take an old ice cube container, spray a little oil in the bottom and on the sides then portion out my pesto in the little wells which happens to make a nice amount of sauce for 2 people when I decide I need a pasta fix; freeze and then pop out and store in a freezer bag.
I have also used this concoction as:
- Tofu marinade
- Combined with greek yogurt to make dip, or thinned with water to make salad dressing.
- Mixed with more EVOO and a dash of balsamic vinegar to create a quick and flavorful vinaigrette.
- Tossed with pasta and raw veggies for a quick lunch or dinner.
- Tossed with pasta, a little pasta water, goat cheese and toasted walnuts for a yummy dinner.
- On top of crusty bread for the base for bruschetta or plain as garlic bread.
- Tossed with saute’d mushrooms.
- Base for marinated olives and bocconcini (baby mozzarella balls) skewers.
- Base for tortillini soup.
Veg Bon Vivant 