Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Spring/Summer/now Fall Projects.....cont'd......, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
Today--I am tackling another procrastinated project.....Making Pesto out of all the Basil I have.

I have been growing it all Summer....I have NOT picked one leaf of it since Spring! Nada! It has grown and grown (some to 2' tall) and some that have already bloomed and gone to seed.

Another weekly project I had to do--was mow my lawn, as they were calling for rain this AM. It is now almost 4PM--and there has been NO rain--but my lawn got mowed this morning.....

Every time I go out on my Patio (daily!) I see all my Basil growing gung-Ho---and I feel so "guilty" for never doing anything with it.....Guilt is genetic in our Family--by the way......Ahem.....

So--I got one of those flat, rectangular beer boxes and picked and picked.....until this box was overflowing. I only picked the Sweet Basil--as all the others were too late....AND--especially Jill's Italian Basil--whose seed seems to be so scarce--I am letting that go to seed so i can get some.
I did pick some side leaves and chopped them up and put them on a plate to dry.
Will do the same for the Thai and Lemon/Lime one. Seems many of these were already ready to harvest...so I cut off many of the browning scapes for seed.

OK! SO! Today I shall make Pesto! I use a basic recipe--nothing extravagant!
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First--I measured out how much Basil leaves I have--as one batch calls for one cup (tightly packed) of Basil leaves. Kind of gave me an idea of how many batches I will be making.

Then--following the recipe---I measured out all the ingredients so I can just haul up my food processor and GO! Seems I will be making 5 batches---each resulting in 2 cups (?) of finished product.

NOW! "STAGED" just for you all--here is my project in progress.....

Here is everything measured out by batches.....ready to go. Did not want to do multiples of one batch....Too chancy for results. BTW--The glass of wine is essential for me to get this done perfectly......:o)

We have" The Basil---the Olive Oil--the Pine Nuts--the freshly shredded Parmesan cheese--the chopped garlic--and the coarse salt (I use Sea Salt)...

Will post my basic recipe below......

Gita