Whilst the basil is growing wild in the summer months, its time for you to get crafty in the kitchen. Basil pesto is one of the best ways to enjoy the herb. And no, we don’t mean your off-the-shelf 200gm preservative flooded pesto supermarket product. We are talking about the homemade love story of flavours straight from your kitchen garden or humble herb pot.
It’s good to give your herbs a good trim every once in a while to stop them from flowering. The taste of leaves may turn bitter as energy and sugars change to produce the next stage of the plants lifecycle. So to keep your basil sweet and leafy just nip off the buds as they appear, you should be able to keep the plant at this ‘sweet and leafy’ stage until the weather starts to cool down for winter.
Just like a good curry, pesto generally tastes best on day 2 – the extra day allows the flavours to really get to know each other.
- 200g basil leaves
- 3 large cloves garlic
- 200g parmesan, grated
- 100g pine nuts, lightly toasted
- ½ cup olive oil
- Toast the pine nuts lightly in a dry frying pan, being careful not to burn them.
- Place the basil, garlic, parmesan and pine nuts into a food processor and pulse to blend.
- Slowly add the olive oil until all is combined.
- To store, put into a container adding a little more olive oil on the top to prevent the basil oxidising.
- If your lacking in the food processor department, but excelling in the time department, the pesto can be made using a mortar and pestle or chopped with a herb cutting knife. BYO patience and some good tunes.
- Note: Rocket, nasturtium or almost any leafy herb can be used as a substitute for the basil depending on your preference or more importantly, what’s overtaking the garden.
