One responsibility that most certainly went unattended would be my container garden. While I kept up with watering and daily maintenance, it really wasn’t not getting the care it deserved, and I began to feel the guilties. As a result, I spent all afternoon this past Sunday giving my containers so much needed TLC- trimming, cutting back, re-potting, feeding, the whole rigamaroll! One look at my lovely basil plant, and I knew it was time to use up a good amount to make way for fresh growth, and the easiest way to accomplish this is making pesto.
I have been making pesto for at least the past 10 years, when my friend from college began requesting it as often as possible. My mother-in-law makes a fabulous pesto with a couple different variations, and I remember her handing us a cooler stocked to the brim with fresh sauce before our move to Annapolis a few years back, it was much appreciated! It is such a simple and beautiful sauce that not only uses up a large surplus of fresh basil, but is also quite economical if you grow your own. It can be applied to just about and scenario (pasta, dressings, pizza, over grilled meat or fish, sandwich spread, etc.) and freezes well- a trait I greatly appreciate! It abides by one of my favorite cooking rules of taking simple, fresh ingredients and working them together so that each element is still acknowledged and highlighted by the other components.
Much like a red tomato sauce, pesto sauces come in a wide range of variations, and each chef touts theirs as the best. Another parallel to red sauce would be the execution- for me it’s predominantly eyeballing the ingredients and adjusting as I go each time, so stick with your instincts. For this latest evolution, I was practicing the “use what you have” mantra, and set out to only incorporate what I had on hand. Absentmindedly, I had tossed the last of my pine nuts into my lunch salad, and only after finishing my lunch did I realize that maybe I should have had a little forethought. So I turned to plan “B”. I had a big bag of raw almonds in my pantry, toasted them up, and threw them in- what a fabulous addition! Almonds have less calories and a lower fat content per serving, which gives you a slight nutritional edge as well.
I’ve been eating my Almond Pesto for two days now (currently as I type, mixed with mashed cauliflower and a little lemon zest for lunch!), and it still is just as bright and fresh. If anything, I find it best after it has been refrigerated overnight- it gives the flavor more time to come together.
There is a certain sense of pride one feels when you are able to not only make something completely from scratch, but also be able to create a dish or element out of something you have personally cultivated from the ground up. Homegrown always tastes the sweetest!
Toasted Almond Pesto Sauce
-2 Good sized bunches (handfuls) of fresh basil leaves, stemmed
-4 Cloves of garlic, peeled & smashed (easier to blend)
-1/2 to 2/3 Cup of fresh grated Parmesan cheese
-2/3 Cup raw almonds
-1/2 to 3/4 Cup good olive oil
-Sea salt & fresh cracked pepper, to taste
Excellent additions include: fresh lemon zest, sun dried or oven dried tomatoes, black olives, flat leaf parsely (if you are stretching your basil a bit), marinated mushrooms, balsamic reduction, etc.
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