When John Denver sang the line, “life on the farm is kinda laid back” it should have been clear to the world that he’d never lived on a farm! At least, not during the summer… We own a hobby farm with a small vegetable garden and several perennial beds and I’ve barely had time to pick up my head. I can’t imagine what it would be like to farm for a living.
This time of year is wild. Each fruit and vegetable that needs to be harvested, waits for no man or in my case – no woman. When stuff is ripe, it needs to be picked, eaten or preserved. I’ve gotten a bit better at growing the proper quantities of things so that I don’t have to try and come up with ways to eat green string beans for breakfast but there’s always more than we can eat or give away.
This week my basil and Italian flat leaf parsley was ready to cut. If I’d waited another week, they would have started to flower diminishing the herb’s flavour. I turn every leaf into pesto then freeze it for the winter. Trust me, when the supermarket is charging three bucks for two scrawny sprigs of not-so-fresh basil you’ll be happy to have a stash of pesto from the summer safely tucked in your freezer.
BASIL PESTO
Makes 2 – 6 ounce containers
2 large bunches basil, leaves picked
½ bunch flat parsley, leaves picked
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 tablespoon coarse sea salt
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan
1 cups extra virgin olive oil
THE STEPS:
- Place garlic, pine nuts and salt in food processor
- Pulse until coarsely chopped
- Add herbs in manageable batches
- Pulse until coarsely chopped
- Slowly drizzle oil through feed tube until a thick puree is formed
- Transfer to a medium sized bowl
- Stir in grated parmesan.
- Serve immediately or refrigerated well covered.
- Pesto freezes well.
THE LOVE: If you are not using your pesto right away, omit the cheese. Add it just before serving.
one year ago: black and white ice cream cake
two years ago: bacon marmalade
three years ago: mango and jalapeno salsa
Thanks for reading.
