Y’all! We have so much basil right now – two plants that we purchased on the first warmish day this spring, plus one more from our Great Country Farms CSA box a few weeks ago. Over the last couple of weeks, all three plants have begun to explode, growing by leaps and bounds every time we turn our backs!
This can mean only one thing: It’s pesto season!
Tonight, I concocted a new-to-me pesto recipe that turned out just great. I confess I didn’t measure, so this won’t be an Official Recipe, but the gist of it was: Bring out your food processor and in it place two large fistfuls of basil, a small package of pine nuts, two cloves of garlic, enough olive oil to give the mixture some binding, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper. Then process the ingredients until they’re smooth and, well, pesto-like, and wait for your pasta to be done!
Along with the pasta and pesto, I also sautéed a diced zucchini (also fresh from today’s CSA box!), which I added to the penne once I’d drained the pasta water. Before I knew it, it was time to serve everything up!
I was presented with a big decision to make: Do I mix the pesto in with the penne, or serve it atop and mix it in tableside? After a brief conference, LeeLee and I elected to go the latter route, and it worked just great. A little pesto goes a long way, and we were happy to have control over how much we put on our plates!
We both chowed down happily on tonight’s dinner; the pesto was fresh (obviously) and, while it was pretty garlicky, we happen to love garlic, so that worked out just fine. The zucchini was a great addition to the pasta itself, and the penne was perfectly al dente and held up very well. And we have plenty left for lunch tomorrow – if that doesn’t say Independence Day, I don’t know what does! ;)
:)