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August 23, 2002

Oh, the joy of fresh basil - the heady aroma, 
the crisp bite on the tongue, etc. etc. etc. 
If you haven't harvested all of yours yet, 
now is the time to mercilessly scythe it down 
and make pesto. Wonderful, glorious green goop 
all over hot pasta or spread onto boneless chicken
breast as they bake - who can resist? 
This is one of those things you learn best by
feel & experimentation. Today we share our 
more-or-less consistent methodology
for making incredible, rich pesto.


The Stray Gourmet's Glorious Pest's Pesto

Gather (or buy) enough basil to halfway fill the average blender
(about 4 robust stalks). Strip off, wash and dry the leaves. 
Clean 6-8 large garlic cloves as well. Pour about 1/2 cup olive 
oil into blender and add basil leaves and garlic gradually,
switching the blender between grind, chop and puree. When most of
the leaves have been fully pureed, add 1/2 cup pine nuts. Puree
until smooth. (Add additional olive oil if necessary). Cut several
medium sized chunks of fresh Parmigiana, Romano, or Asiago cheese 
(or a mixture of different fresh grating and table cheeses). Blend
into the mixture until all is smooth. You can stop here and scrape
the pesto from the blender to be put to many wonderful uses, or, as
I sometimes do if I am serving it immediately over hot pasta, blend
in 1 stick unsalted sweet butter. MMMMMMM....


Click here to check out this month's recipe.
Click here to see the previous column & recipe.


Until next time, see you around the galaxy.



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