Pesto!

Today I did something I've been saying I'll do for weeks and weeks - I made pesto with fresh basil from the garden! I was in Sydney last week and my mum, as usual, had homemade pesto in the fridge. It was so nice, so much better than store-bought. So when I arrived home and saw that our own basil plant was overgrowing to the point of ridiculousness I decided it was a sign. I used Stephanie Alexander's pesto recipe from her Kitchen Garden Companion which I'll copy for you below, but I found it to be a little oily. I'd suggest pouring in most of the oil to start with and then if the pesto is too thick add some more. I also didn't add the parmesan at the end as she suggests I just shoved it into the food processor with everything else and it worked fine (this was an accident on my part - didn't read the recipe through - but turned out not to matter!).

Stephanie Alexander's Basil Pesto
(I doubled the recipe in order to use up lots of basil and it made about 3/4 of a big jam jar)

1 small handful of tightly packed basil leaves
60g grated parmesan cheese
40g pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
125ml extra virgin olive oil
sea salt

Put everything but the cheese in a food processor and whizz until smooth. You can also use a hand-held whizzer. Add the cheese and stir until all combined. Store in an air-tight jar in the fridge.

Here's my finished product --->>      Yum!