Sunday, July 26, 2009

And Presto, it's Pesto!



Sue and her boys have gone off to enjoy a few days (and nights) of music and madness at the Starbelly Jam Musical fesitval on the east shore of Kootenay Lake and she has left Ani and I in charge of all things garden-related.

One of my first chores this morning was to get up early and check the basil plants in the greenhouse. Sue and I had picked a good deal of basil almost a week ago, and I learned all about how to properly harvest the plant to ensure it doesn't flower and to be careful the underleaves are not picked to encourage further growth all summer. With the hot weather we've been having, the plants were already due for a second major picking and I spent nearly an hour trimming and piling up the delicate leaves.

By the time I was finished I realized I had picked an enormous stainless steel bowl's worth of basil, organic basil to boot! The next step was to grind it up with some pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice and parmesan cheese to make the freshest tasting pesto I have ever had. Isla and Roscoe were big helpers by picking the stems and working the Braun handheld mixer.

We packed up several plastic containers for Brenda and they found a home in the deep freeze, and tonight we're having pesto pasta for supper - go figure!

1 comment:

kmfm said...

I had fresh pesto pasta tonight too! not from my yard like you though (the bug enjoyed my basil a bit more than I did this summer) I have a fantastic recipe that uses nutritional yeast instead of cheese if you are interested in a change. It really is fantastic. Looks like a fun summer on the farm!