Pretty Pesto!

The fact that my basil plants flourished this year was reason enough to rejoice, but add some pesto and we had a full blown party on our hands yesterday. The idea of making my own pesto somehow gets distorted into this absurd series of blunders. I always forget an ingredient or can never find enough basil to make it worth my while. This year it all fell into place. We gathered the basil and parsley from our own plants, toasted, blended and taste tested this super yummy sauce. I found this recipe in my current favorite cook book, The Best Make- Ahead Recipe, by Cook's Illustrated.

Classic Pesto

1/4 cup pine nuts (we used this), walnuts or whole blanched almonds

3 medium garlic cloves, unpeeled

2 cups packed fresh basil leaves

7 Tbs extra-virgin olive oil

2 Tbs fresh parsley leaves

salt (I used sea salt, yum)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

ground black pepper

1. Toast nuts in skillet until golden and fragrant, about 7-8 minutes.

2. Remove and place garlic cloves in empty skillet, toast, shaking the pan occasionally until cloves deepen in color and become fragrant. About 7 minutes. The instructions say to peel and chop the cloves but we just peeled and tossed them in whole.

3. Process the nuts, garlic, basil, 6 Tbs olive oil, parsley, and 1/2 tsp salt in a food processor until smooth, stopping to scrape the sides as needed.

4. Transfer mixture to bowl and add Parmesan, season with salt and pepper.

5. We skipped the last step and transferred the mixture to an ice cube tray for individual servings. We froze the pesto in 1 tablespoon portions so that I could use them as needed. Hint: I forgot to line the ice cube tray with plastic wrap so it was harder to transfer the cubes into a freezer safe container. Don't make my mistake!

6. When ready to use, take out portion needed and let thaw in refrigerator, add cheese to taste. Add more olive oil if needed. Enjoy! (If you are using the pesto for pasta, reserve some of the pasta water to help thin the pesto out)