I fear my my dramatic farewell to the carefree summer days (and nights) of avoiding kitchen tasks which involved actual cooking was a tad premature. The weather has not changed dramatically in a week. Oh, yes, there have been thunderstorms, but it is still rather warm out there, as you may have noticed. So I might be extending my kitchen boycott until the leaves change and the temperatures cool. Autumn does not officially begin until September 23, so let’s take advantage of this loophole and hang out on the back porch, chatting and sipping our cheap white wine for just a little while longer. Maybe we can procrastinate and gossip until the first snowflake wafts down from lofty nimbostratus clouds. Let the summer linger.
There are three pots of basil sitting on our kitchen windowsill. A sniff of a crumpled basil leaf can transport you to your own private Italian daydream. In winter it can be as heady an aroma as freshly cut grass on a warm day. You can have summer at your beck and call. A handful of basil leaves can liven up any bland bag salad with alacrity. Or you could make a nice, fresh, easy peasy homemade pesto. Do not buy the overpriced and over-processed dreck in plastic tubs at the grocery store! Harvest your own basil, or buy a nice bunch of it from the farmers’ market! Get cracking!
Pesto is the perfect distillation of basil, cheese, nuts, olive oil, and garlic. A pesto sauce makes for a quick and easy pasta dinner. We have spread a pesto concoction on bland chicken boneless breasts that cook quickly in the oven. We have slathered it on sandwiches, stirred it into eggs, dipped our fries into it, and swirled it into muffins and drizzled it on pizza. Pesto is our friend.
And if you don’t have your own herbaceous windowsill, do not despair. If you have a handful of fresh parsley in the fridge you can still construct a deelish pesto. You can even try arugula, spinach or cilantro. Green is good. Quite often I don’t bother with pine nuts which can be expensive and hard to find, and use walnuts, or nothing at all. Shhh. Plus you can make pesto ahead of time and keep some in the fridge for a few days so you have a little insurance when you drag in after a long day communing with your computer screen. Add some pasta, a little chicken, some ripe tomatoes, olive oil, bread and some Bobby Mondavi, and you are a blinking kitchen genius. You can even freeze pesto: https://www.theyummylife.com/How_to_make_Pesto
Back in the old days we used a mortar and pestle for preparing the basil. I still don’t have a food processor, but I use a tiny ancient 1-speed immersible hand mixer, which also has an attachment with a chopping bowl. It is quite tiny, but it makes a lot of pesto. But if you have a food processor you have no excuses for not making gallons of fresh pesto!
Here are some pesto basics:
https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/how-to-make-basil-pesto-food-processor
Pesto Crusted Chicken:
https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/pesto-crusted-chicken-breasts
Here is a veritable compendium of fantastic thing to do with pesto: https://www.buzzfeed.com/lincolnthompson/28-of-the-most-delicious-things-you-can-do-with-pesto#.pfxgaNvb2
And if you have leftover pesto, don’t waste it. Use it up! https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/top-10-ways-use-pesto
And if you would like to plan ahead here are some tips for freezing fresh basil: https://www.thekitchn.com/3-tips-for-preserving-fresh-basil-all-year-long-tips-from-the-kitchn-207032
“Tomatoes and oregano make it Italian; wine and tarragon make it French. Sour cream makes it Russian; lemon and cinnamon make it Greek. Soy sauce makes it Chinese; garlic makes it good.”
Alice May Brock
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