Thursday, September 15, 2011

An Ode to Basil

For the first 25 or so years of my life I didn't know what basil was. Seriously. I grew up in a family that believed good food was made with Crisco, Velveeta and ranch dressing. All of the previously mentioned foods were served on or with venison and potatoes. It was not until I was in college, and then living on my own that I discovered a wide array of food groups I had not known about.

Like apples. Growing up we only ate red delicious apples. Once in a while a granny smith apple would find it's way into a pie, but the only apples we bought or ate were red delicious. Who knew that there were so many other varieties of apples out there? Galas and Braeburns and Jonagolds and Ginger Crisps. I fell in love with apples. But I digress . . .

Basil. Just the smell of it is deeply satisfying. Earthy and herby and mouth watering. This year I got a bit carried away (not an unusual state for me when planting my garden) and planted two 50 foot rows of basil. For quite awhile in our unusually cold summer weather my basil foundered. I feared a winter without pesto. Then, the weather got warmer and my basil took off like a weed. I was, and am, overjoyed. I could and can make pesto to my hearts content - and trust me that is a lot of pesto!

But, the best part of about this summer's basil hasn't been the growing or the making of pesto. (Or even the DIVINE basil, spinach, mozzerella cheese foccacia bread I made last week.) The best part of growing the basil has been the wide ranging group of friends who have come out to my garden to pick it. My former nanny comes out to pick basil and chats with the kids and weeds a row of the garden. The kids LOVE to see her and it has been a great way to re-connect. My kids have friends from school whose mom's I didn't know that well who have come out to pick basil, and stayed for coffee, sometimes a glass of wine and conversation. I've found new friends through picking basil. Today, a friend I'd lost touch with came out to pick basil (in exchange for huckleberries - which is MORE than fair) and I enjoyed visiting with him and picking up the threads of an acquaintance that could become a good and stimulating friendship.

While growing basil has not always been the easiest endeavor for me as I am learning how to grow things, it has, by far, been the most satisfying.

Here is my recipe for pesto - I'm sure many of you have some of your own. If so, please share.

PESTO

2 cups tightly packed basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 cloves garlic
salt to taste
about 1/4 cup of good quality olive oil

Pack the basil, the pine nuts, garlic and salt into a food processor. Start the processor and then drizzle in the olive oil. In less than a minute you will have pesto. I freeze my pesto in either ice cube trays or small plastic containers. Note. You can omit the pine nuts and the pesto is still yummy. If you want to try something a bit different you can omit the olive oil and throw in a small jar of sundried tomatoes that are packed in olive oil. The sundried tomato pesto makes a really, really yummy pizza sauce.

Enjoy!

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