Harvest Time!

My three pots of basil were ready for a second snipping. It's possible they'll regrow enough before frost that I'll have a third picking.

                                                            

It's lovely to sit on the porch enjoying the view while I strip the fragrant leaves from the stems.

                                          

 It's not like the old days when I would be out here shucking bushels of corn or snapping baskets of beans from the garden. But even a tiny harvest makes me smile.

My tray full of basil resulted in four packed cups of basil--just right for one batch of pesto. A quarter cup of almonds, a quarter cup of Parmesan, 6 cloves of garlic, and a bit of olive oil went into the food processor with the leaves. And after a quick whirl, I had two half pints of pesto for the freezer.

Green gold that will bring a touch of summer to winter meals.

 

Time to Make the Pesto

The basil in the garden was flowering so it was harvest time. I pretty much cut off the top two-thirds of each plant, leaving plenty of smaller bits to come on and fill out. 

Washed free of dust kicked up by the weedeater and smelling heavenly; now to pick the leaves from the stems. One batch requires 4 cups of tight-packed leaves . . .

Also four or five garlic cloves, 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup sliced almonds, and 3/4 cup olive oil.

Pesto Time

Fortunately the deer don't seem to like basil so I had a gracious plenty to harvest and turn into pesto.

4 cups basil leaves (tight packed- you can substitute Italian parsley for one of those cups)

3/4 cup olive oil

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (not the unrefrigerated sort)

1/2 cup pine nuts or almonds or hulled sunflower seeds)

4-6 large cloves of garlic, peeled.

Whir in food processor or blender. Pack into half pint jars.  This recipe makes 2 1/2 to 3 half pints, depending on how tight you packed those leaves.

This stuff freezes exceptionally well. Two or three years and it's still good. Keeps well in the refrigerator too - weeks, maybe months, but not years.

Neil Gaiman Helps Me with the Pesto

Neil Gaiman's latest has been in my Kindle in Audible form for several weeks now. I've been hoarding it, anticipating the pleasure of listening to Mr. Gaiman read it to me.  And yesterday, the time had come.

The basil down in the box beds was overgrown and falling over of its own weight.  So I went in with the pruning shears and was ruthless -- harvesting a huge amount of basil and a lesser amount of parsley  (my pesto recipe calls for parsley too.)

It's a tedious job, going through and picking off just the good leaves... the kittehs didn't want to help. . . so I propped the Kindle up beside me and let Neil entertain me -- he's an excellent reader, by the way.  

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I soon realized that this job was going to take several hours and so Neil and I moved to the living room where I could put my feet up as I worked.

At last I was ready to make the pesto.  -- six batches of it. . .

 The Cuisinart drowned out Neil's lovely British accent so I had to postpone hearing more of the story.

I ended up with 16 half pints of delicious pesto to put in the freezer and a bit over -- which adorned the fried pork chops and the potatoes  we had for supper.

Since I haven't finished the book, I'll say more about it another time -- but I can tell you that, half way through, I really, really like it. So did A.S. Byatt, according to her review.

(Merisi  suggested I add a link to the book on Amazon -- and HERE it is.)

 

Stromboli

"The stromboli -- homemade pizza dough spread with last year's basil pesto and soft-dried tomatoes from the freezer, topped with thin slices of prociutto and provolone, as well as grated Asiago -- was rolled up and baked brown. Molten cheeses escaped from its fragrant interior as Elizabeth served out the portions."

(from Signs in the Blood)

I usually make stromboli with some combination of cheese, pesto, roasted tomatoes, and prosciutto. I've also used fresh tomatoes (de-seeded) and plain old sliced ham.

This one had capacolla on it but, to tell the truth, the taste of the pesto and the roasted tomatoes pretty much drowns out the flavor of the meat. Another time, I'll omit it.

Roll 'em up and bake them or freeze them to bake another time.

Stromboli is a nice dinner entree with a salad on the side or it can work as an appetizer too.

If you'd like the complete recipe, go to my website , click on RECIPES, and scroll down.