guest blogger: pesto!

Guest Blogger: Future wife of "Bean Grower"

Summer is here and that means that basil is growing like crazy. Between the basil we get from the CSA and the basil growing in our garden, we are inundated with basil! The more we harvest, the more it grows. What do we do with all that basil? We make pesto, of course!

Pesto is a sauce that originated in
Genoa in Northern Italy. It is a combination of basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, salt, pepper, and a hard cheese such as parmesan. The name comes from the Latin root pestle--to pound or to crush. Historically, pesto was made using a mortar and pestle. First the basil leaves were washed and dried and then put in the mortar along with garlic and salt and crushed to a pulp. Then pine nuts were crushed and added to the mix. Afterwards, cheese and oil were stirred in with a spoon.

Now, I can make pesto with fresh basil by blending the ingredients in a food processor. After adding the fresh pesto to pasta, I often have extra. My trick is to fill ice cube trays with the leftover pesto. Once it freezes, I take it out of the ice cube trays and leave the cubes in the freezer in zip lock bags. When we are ready for more pesto, I defrost a few cubes.