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This past weekend I had to run to the restaurant supply place as I was low on stuff (yes, I have buckets that hold 25 pounds of flours/sugars, etc). Well as I was walking into theginormous walk-in cooler (no, it wasn’t “cool”. No.. it was FRIGGEN FREEZING!) anyway… as I was saying as I was walking into the human freezer I spotted the fresh herbs. Now you have to understand something about me and fresh herbs. I have an unhealthy obsession with fresh herbs. I have them all year round in my house, will buy 50 basil plants in the summer and then buy more as the season progresses. I use it all plus I just love the fresh smells. Although Mr. Fantabulous hates the smell of fresh basil. To him it smells like cat pee. Yeah.. cat pee, what? He’s strange but it’s okay cause he’s so friggen hot *wink*. I’ll allow him his oddities. haha Anyway, quit distracting me people… I stopped to peruse them and spotted 5 pounds of the most gorgeous and massive fresh basil leaves. I mean they were BEAUTIFUL! Now living in Pittsburgh the ONLY thing that’s fresh around here this time of the year is snow and icicles. THANKFULLY this supply store gets fresh stuff shipped in daily. So I look up and BONUS!!!!! $3.98 for 5 pounds of GORGEOUS basil ♥♥♥! Let’s just say that sucker was on my cart faster than you could blink an eye. I knew exactly what I wanted to make… PESTO!
See I ♥ Pesto in a big way! It’s so versatile though most people tend to really only use it in pasta. Why is that? Pesto with chicken is amazing! Pesto on a pizza… TO DIE FOR! Pesto with seafood, vegetables, in breads… I could go on and on! Well when I got home and unloaded to 500 things I bought I went straight to making pesto – I swear Mr. Fantabulous, dear, I only went there for brown sugar. These things just ‘fell’ on my cart but thank you bunches for carrying all 500 things and 100 pounds of flours and sugars in for me!. Of course as I started to get the basil prepped I hear “OMG! That smells like cat pee! WTH is.. wait.. is that basil??” LOL Funny thing is, he’ll eat basil and pesto! So I just smiled, gave him some cookies and told him to go weld something, chop down a tree or something manly. As I was making this, even with a commercial food processor, I had to do it in batches. Well when I was done I then realized just HOW MUCH PESTO I had just made. Um yeah… Let’s just say I’ll have enough pesto until 2018! LOL
But the thing with Pesto, in the fridge, it doesn’t have a long shelf life. I’ll show you in the next post how to store it for long term yumminess! So hold on to your gutchies, k?
For now, you NEED to make this! It’s super simple and sooooooooo good! Now Pesto has a bajillion variations on how you can make it. It all uses cheese, garlic, oil, basil and nuts. Where it changes is the type of nuts you use and the types of cheese(s). This is a great basic pesto. Once you get used to making it, feel free to make it your own by changing up the cheese and or nuts.
But wait.. there’s more! You can change this even more and instead of using basil, you could use mint, sage, cilantro (LOVE THIS!), parsley, oregano. Same with the oil… Grape Seed Oil ROCKS in pesto!
Print5 pounds of basil… I’m in Pesto Heaven!!!
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Ingredients
- 4 cups basil
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 cup pine nuts
- 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
- 1/4–1/2 cup olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- In a food processor with the standard blade, add in all of the ingredients except the oil.
- Pulse until most of it is chopped up.
- While the processor is running, pour in the olive oil slowly. You can add more if you like as this really depends on your preference as to how thick you like it.
- Taste for seasoning and thickness.
- Store in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 days.
Is it possible to freeze Pesto?
Yes it is! I used to do it in ice cube trays but found a much better way from The Kitchen’s website!
Once it’s made, you spread it out on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan to a 1/4” thick then top with more parchment.
Place it in the freezer, uncovered until frozen. Once frozen transfer to a freezer safe bag. When you’re ready to use, break off what you need and use up. I really love their method.
Best Kitchen Wishes!
I’ve always wondered, how do you measure a cup of basil? Loosely packed after rough chopping? A big handful = 1 cup? Tightly packed? I’d love to know what you use as a guide. Thanks! And I cannot even imagine how big of a bag or how many bags it takes to make 5lbs. of basil…or is it in bushel baskets?!!!
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Hi Barb!
The easiest way for me is to put the leaves in a measuring cup and them press down on them *without breaking them* to pack them tightly. The only way to get a true ‘cup’ of basil you can do it by weight with a scale.
The bag was GINORMOUS! I mean HUGE! LOL
Best Kitchen Wishes!
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