It's Pesto time!

17 years ago

My Genovese Basil is awesome this year. First picking last night had enough for 2 batches Basil Pesto. Here's my recipe:

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup Pine Nuts

3/4 Cup Good Parmesean Cheese, Grated

3/4 Cup Chopped Parsley

3 Cups Packed Basil Leaves

1/2 Cup Olive Oil

3 Clove Garlic

1/4 Cup Melted Butter

In a food processor Combine olive oil, parsley and garlic, finely chop, add remaing ingredients continuing to process until a fine paste. Remove from the processor straight away to clean refrigerator or freezer containers. Put a layer of olive oil on top of the pesto to seal out air, which will cause the pesto to become black.

Makes 1 pint

This is a thick paste that can be refrigerated or frozen. Needs to be thinned with olive oil for a Basil Spaghetti Sauce.

Make sure the sauce alwyas has a layer of olive oil to seal out air if storing in refrigerator.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (7)

shermthewerm
17 years ago
Thanks for the tip about sealing out air with olive oil. Too bad I already froze a bunch of pesto last week. Oh, well, at least I know for next time! I have 10 basil plants in my garden this year, so we're not lacking...
busylizzy
Original Author
17 years ago
The first quart here never makes it as far as the freezer, lol everyone has been asking for it.
For me, there cannot possibly be enough basil. Between drying, pesto, iced cubed or spagh sauce I go thru alot.
I guess I have 30-40 plants.
Related Professionals
Muskogee Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Barnstable Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Chula Vista Landscape Architects & Landscape Designers · Daytona Beach Landscape Contractors · Asheville Landscape Contractors · Charlotte Landscape Contractors · Cookeville Landscape Contractors · Muncie Landscape Contractors · Leamington Landscape Contractors · Florence Home Builders · Columbia Home Builders · Muskogee Home Builders · York Home Builders · Rochester Home Builders · Santa Barbara Home Builders
robin_d
17 years ago
I put my pesto into gallon zip-loc freezer bags, then press it out into a thin sheet. It freezes flat, there's no air in the bag to turn it black, and I can break off as much or little as I need. Works a treat!

I also freeze simple basil-olive oil puree (rather than pesto) for adding to recipes.
busylizzy
Original Author
17 years ago
Yup Robin I do the basil/oil, parsley/oil, rosemary/oil or italian spice/oil puree for freezing. I like to use the ice cube trays for those because the standard trays are 1oz cubes.
Got into the habit of that when my daughter was born for baby food, as I made all her own, was easy proportioning.
robin_d
17 years ago
I love the thought of the ice cube trays because of the portioning, but I'd have to buy ice cube trays and clear a flat area in the freezer, lol. As it is now I have a "box" in the freezer and the flat frozen zip-locs stand up in it, almost like a card file... I flip through 'til I find what I want. When the "file box" begins to empty it's removed and the bags end up stacked.
busylizzy
Original Author
17 years ago
First time in a long time I have freezer space in the side by side in the house. The thermostat had to be replaced, didn't know for 2 days, so the animals got fed well!
Now, I made a promise I will keep the one in the house organized, lol. We shall see.
annie1992
17 years ago
I also freeze basil and olive oil, I run it through the food processor and make it thick enough to just make "dollops" on a baking sheet. Put the baking sheet in the freezer and when they are frozen I stack the "dollops" in a plastic box with waxed paper between the layers. That way I can just take out a chunk when I want it for soup and I don't have to have extra ice trays sitting around for basil season. (grin)

Annie