So I bet you wonder whatever happened to Garden? Good thing you have asked, it is doing pretty well. We got a late start to planting so we went with what was still in stock at the garden center. We planted 4 tomato plants, 3 basil plants, 3 pickling cucumber plants and a bunch of flowers. I also picked up a Shiso plant from our amazing cool local Japanese food store.
Everything is going great, except for one thing… RATS! This must be one of the fun, unique urban gardening things. Instead of bunnies or deers, we got rats. They have been having a field day with tomato plants in the community garden, and our cucumber plans haven’t been spared either. Luckily it does seem like they have a taste for basil because it has been left alone.
Our basil was growing like crazy so we decided to hop some down and make pesto. Carolyn’s grandmother makes great pesto, so the bar was set pretty high. The pesto we made doesn’t come close, but having it fresh adds something to it. You can make it using a food processor or blender, I am not sure what is better. I think I overprocessed it bit because the pesto lost its bright green color. That happens when it is exposed to air, so try to blend the minimum amount needed.
We had a ton of basil, so I just scaled to recipe up. In the end we had about a quart of pesto! Some of the “profits” had to shared with Carolyn’s brother because he helped out.
Pesto
Delicious pesto makes pasta better!
How to Cook Everything
By: Mark Bittan
Ingredients:
- 2 loosely packed cups fresh basil leaves, rinsed and dried
- Salt
- 1/2 clove of garlic, peeled or more to taste
- 2 tablespoons pine nut or chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, or more as desired
- 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan, pecorino Ramano or other hard cheese (optional)
Equipment:
- A blender or food processor
Directions:
- Combine the basil with a pinch of salt, the garlic the nuts and about half the oil in a food processor or blender.
- Process, stopping to scrape down the sides of the container if necessary and adding the rest of the oil gradually. Add more oil if you prefer a thinner mixture.
- Stir in the cheese by hand just before serving (although we just mixed it in)