It kills me to do such corny titles. I give S a hard time with her sense of humor, mostly because it is corny, and mine is very dry. But, catchy titles are what draws the huge crowds. Right, huge crowds of readers? You don’t have to comment, I know you’re there.
So, I made some pesto yesterday. It’s a very simple recipe and prep, and it smells good.
I started with a bunch of basil, maybe 4-5 cups? I didn’t measure, but it was enough to fill a medium mixing bowl. In a food processor, throw a couple cloves of garlic, the basil, and a handful of almonds (again, didn’t measure, but it was somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 cup). A lot of traditional recipes call for pine nuts, which I don’t typically have in stock. I think you can make it with most any nut, with different variations on flavor. I’m not sure that I would make it with peanuts. Maybe just stick to tree nuts.
Pulse a few times, then while it’s running, drizzle in about a 1/2 cup of olive oil, and a pinch or two of salt. Process until it’s (relatively) smooth, about 10-15 seconds.
I suppose if you’re feeling ambitious, you could can this, but that’s way more work than I was interested in doing. I just fill an ice cube tray and freeze, then keep the cubes in a freezer bag. It doesn’t look very pretty, but on a cold winter night, whip up a batch of pasta and throw a few cubes in, and it’ll take you back to those warm, sunny July days. Or at least as close as you can get when it’s snowing with a 10 degree wind chill.
Actually, pesto is never, as far as I know, canned. For one thing, the official stance on it is that it’s much too low-acid for canning. For ANY canning, I guess, because there are no official recommendations even for pressure canning it. But mostly, if it was canned, it would basically cook in the jars during canning. All food does when it’s canned. The whole point of pesto is that it’s a fresh herb blend. I bet it’d be gross if canned. Freezing in ice cube trays is definitely the way to go.