Pesto

I've been making pesto for about a year now, and I absolutely love it.  I only tried it for the first time about two years ago, and now that I make my own, I can never go back to store-bought.  It just doesn't taste quite as good as homemade!  This summer, however, is the first time that I've preserved it.

Our basil is fresh from the garden.  I have about six plants right now, but next year, I'm hoping to expand my entire herb garden.  It will definitely include more basil!

To my great annoyance, pesto isn't something that is canned.  Rather, you freeze it, but that means you have to use it up within a few months.  Earlier in the summer, I froze two large batches in freezer jars.  They will work well for when we use large portions of it for pizza or as a spread.

Today, however, I decided to try freezing it in ice cube trays, which are more convenient for individual portions!  I read about it in the book Get Started Preserving!  However, that's not the recipe I use.  I based my own recipe off of several, and really, pesto's not that difficult.  My husband, though, is lactose intolerant, so I don't add any cheese to our pesto. If you ARE going to add cheese, do not add it to the pesto you're going to freeze - you'll have to add it right before you actually use it.

Here's my recipe:

3/4 cup pine nuts
3 to 5 cups basil
4 garlic cloves
olive oil
pepper

Put the pine nuts and garlic in a food processor - pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides of the food processor.  Add the basil a handful at a time, blend.  Add olive oil - I eyeball it, pouring it in a bit at a time until the pesto is the consistency that I prefer, which comes out to a few tablespoons.  I also then add a few twists of pepper from our pepper mill and blend again until nice and smooth.

Basil

Pine nuts

After I made the pesto, I used a small spatula to scoop it into the ice cube tray.  I got 8 cubes out of the above recipe.

Once the pesto was completely frozen, I popped the pesto cubes out.  I put them in a quart freezer bag, sucked all the air out with a straw, and then tossed them back into the freezer.