Pesto

Despite the fact that I love to cook, there are quite a few things that I'm hesitant to tackle in the kitchen. I don't make bread, I shy away from decorating cakes, and I've never made pasta from scratch (two of those things could soon be off my list though as I did just get a fabulous new Kitchenaid Mixer for my birthday!).

Canning was one of my long-time fears but I've since managed to overcome that hurdle (yes, it's time consuming but not as bad as you'd think and very worth the effort). Making homemade pesto was previously on my no-go list but I decided to take the plunge a few weeks ago and whipped up a batch in my blender. Surprise, surprise, it honestly was not very hard.

The inspiration for making pesto came from two lovely basil plants that I purchased while in the Okanagan in April. A health food store in Vernon had them on sale for 2/$5. Basil is one of my favourite herbs and I had previously been successful at growing basil inside our condo when we lived in Squamish. However, it had been years since I've attempted to grow it again and those beautiful basil plants seemed like a much easier way to go. I've since transplanted the basil to bigger pots and they are doing well. I've used the basil to make caprese rice salad (recipe to come soon), bocconcini/tomato balls, and this batch of pesto. I expect to be able to make a few more batches before the plant growth slows down for the winter.

There are many basil plants for sale this time of the year at farmer's markets, nurseries, and your local grocery/hardware/big box store.  Do yourself a favour - buy a few, set them in a sunny spot in your house, and get ready to enjoy fresh basil all summer long.  

Ingredients:

2 cups firmly packed fresh basil

2 - 4 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup very good quality olive oil

3 tbsp pine nuts

1/2 - 1 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. This step is optional but I thought that it added nicely to the flavour.  Warm a cast-iron frying pan over medium heat.  Add your pine nuts to the pan and stir frequently.  Keep a very close eye on the pine nuts! - take them off the heat as soon as they begin to get toasted.  Set aside.   

2. Place the basil and crushed garlic into your blender.  Add olive oil in a slow, steady stream while your blender is set to a low speed.  Blend until smooth.

3. Add toasted pine nuts and blend on low for about 10 seconds.  

4. Stir in parmesan cheese.  

Notes:
1. I used pre-grated parmesan from Safeway (more like powdered parmesan than grated). This wasn't the best choice, despite the fact that it was a decent brand. Next time, I would buy a wedge of parmesan cheese from Costco and use that to grate into the pesto. And, if I haven't said so already, Costco really does have some of the best prices around on cheese.
2. I stored my pesto in a glass canning jar for about two weeks in the fridge. You can also freeze the pesto into ice cube trays and then transferred to a freezer bag.
3. Pesto does oxidize when exposed to air. Some sites recommend covering the top of the pesto with plastic wrap, even when it's in a sealed jar. I simply left mine as is and then stirred the oxidized portion back into the rest of the pesto. It didn't seem to make any difference in flavour.
4. My main hesitation around making pesto was my concern that it couldn't be made properly in the blender (previous attempts at making hummus in the blender didn't go all that well). I thought that a food processor was mandatory. While a food processor may be easier to use than a blender when making pesto, using a blender was perfectly acceptable. I promise.