Basil is one of those herbs which I grow more in hope than expectation. Sometimes it does well, others it’s not worth the space. 2021 is proving to be a good year with plenty of tasty plants. That introduces the problem of what to do with excess. Mixing it with salad leaves is good but pesto uses quite a lot, stores in the fridge for a reasonable length of time and freezes surprisingly well for the long term.
It’s simple to make and you can flavour it to suit yourself. You’ll need a food processor.
Ingredients
- 150g Basil leaves;
- 50g toasted pine nuts;
- 50g Parmesan grated cheese;
- 150ml olive oil;
- 2tsp lemon juice;
- Pepper to taste.
This is about enough for ten tablespoons of pesto but you can obviously increase/decrease the quantities, maintaining the proportions.
Method
Start by toasting the pine nuts gently in a dry pan.
Then put all the dry ingredients into the food processor and whizz them up until the basil leaves are all mashed.
At that point, drizzle the olive oil until you get a decent consistency.
Finally add the lemon juice.