The Joys of Pesto

I previously mentioned that I got a giant bunch of cilantro at Wal Mart for 97 cents. When I have a fresh green herb on my hands, the first thing I think of is, of course, pesto. It is an extremely easy, flexible, versatile recipe that always tastes delicious.

Some notes about pesto, though. A lot of people think pesto is a solely Basil thing. And it's true the classic version is Pesto alla Genovese, and contains basil, garlic, EVOO, pine nuts, and parmaggiano reggiano. But the sky is the limit when you have fresh herbs. Pretty much you need the components of an oil, a nut, garlic, a cheese, and an herb. Some combinations might be mint, goat cheese, evoo, and almonds. Or sage, sunflower seeds, Parmesan, and sunflower oil. Or even rosemary, walnuts, evoo, and mozzarella. The consistency of pesto tends to vary greatly depending on taste. We like to use our mortar and pestle to grind it, which makes it very chunky.However, it's very common to throw everything into a food processor and run it until it's more like a sauce than a paste. Anyway, we went with cilantro this week!

1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped very very finely
about 1/2 cup of toasted pine nuts
about 1/4 cup of Parmesan
2 cloves garlic, chopped
a few pepper corns
a tsp. or so of salt
about 2 Tbs of EVOO



We used a mortar and pestle to grind ours, as mentioned. First we put the peppercorns in the bottom, and crushed them. Then we added  the garlic and the pine nuts and crushed them. After that, slowly add in the cilantro as you can, using the olive oil as a lubricant, if you will. stir in the cheese and the salt, and you should have a very pretty pesto. You may have to do this in batches, if you have a small m&p like we do. If you're using a food processor, I'm pretty sure you just toss it all on in there- just make sure you have enough oil to get it to spin well. We then threw it all in a washed out jar for storage- I wouldn't keep it for more than a week, though. However, I have heard of people freezing it in ice cube trays, and thawing as needed.

So I know your may be wondering why that was the least exact recipe ever, but it's because pesto needs to fit your tastes. Some people will find that uncooked garlic is far too strong for their tastes, so they may use a touch of garlic powder instead. The same for the pepper corns. I will say that pine nuts tend to run a little pricey, but we were lucky to have some stashed away in the freezer when they were on sale, but if you can't snag them, use almonds or walnuts.

Now, where do we put our pesto? The answer is pretty simple. Anywhere you want! Just with our little sampling of pesto, we made 3 different dishes, which is only the beginning. Some ideas!
Pesto Pizza :spread some pesto on your pizza dough in place of sauce, top and bake as normal. We like to grill ours- it's best to keep toppings light, though, to let the pesto shine. Pesto Pasta, just top your favourite pasta. It goes delicious over fish and vegetables (asparagus is my favourite). It makes a delicious garlic bread, spread it on a french loaf, top with a little extra cheese, and stick it under the broiler for a few minutes. Mint pesto is delicious on lamb chops. It goes delicious on a baked potato. For lunch one day, I threw a few spoons of pesto into day-old rice and sauteed it with an egg and some veggies for a nice fried rice. The sky really is the limit.

Anyway, I hope at the very least, I've given you a couple of ideas! Pesto isn't always cheap, but you can stretch it to infinity. Enjoy!