It Was A GREAT Year For Basil!
I built a new raised bed this year, filled it in with 3" of rock and cement dust in the bottom to keep the voles from tunneling, then 6" of composted leaf mulch, 4" of raised bed soil anf finally 4" of potting mix, the whole time I shoveled in a few bags of Black Kow composted manure into each layer until I got it full, Oh man! The tomatoes and basil TOOK OFF!! I have been harvesting basil leaves and making a lot of pesto. I had ran out and wanted enough to last a couple of years but sheesh! I bet we put 8 pounds of pesto in the freezer!
I had enough basil to experiment with some cheeses, and you want some really aromatic and strong flavored aged hard cheese for pesto. I hunted around and found some Cantal which is a French cheddar, made some with this cheese and used roasted salted pistachios for the nuts. VERY flavorful and aromatic pesto yep!!
Next batch I found some Comte, another French cheese that is aged, also got some Pecorino Toscano, and some Reggianito which is Argentine parmesan. All these make good pesto, and for nuts I used pine nuts and walnuts, next batch I will try some Macadamia nuts.
This is my recipe, you can use any aged hard cheese, and basically any nut will work but I try to stick to the light colored soft, buttery flavored variety like pine nuts, walnuts, these two are probably the most used nuts in making pesto. This recipe is for a full size food processor.
Revised Basic Basil Pesto
Ingredients
• 2 ½ - 3 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
• 1 cup freshly grated Cantal cheese (2.8oz)
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup pine nuts or walnuts
• 5-6 garlic cloves, coarse chopped
• 1/3 teaspoon salt, more to taste
• 1/3 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, more to taste
Pulse basil and nuts, add garlic and cheese, pulse several more times, scrape down sides, add salt and pepper, stream in olive oil, makes 15oz. Pesto.
To use the pesto, make a pot of pasta noodles, drain water off, stir in a big tablespoon of pesto and stir until well dispersed. Serve as a bedding underneath fried or broiled fish, fried softshell crab (my FAVORITE!) you can also use it under fried eggplant topped with some mozzarella and fresh basil.