i have a few basil plants - i'd like to make pesto - can i put the leaves in olive oil while i wait until there are enough to make a batch or shall i freeze the leaves while i wait? i'd like to cut the big plants back to keep them from flowering. thanks!
basil - pesto
About two cups of leaves will make a good bit of pesto...you could make a smaller batch with one cup. Not sure how big your plants are. Why not pick the leaves when you need them?
I wouldn't freeze the leaves, eventually they'll turn black and yucky.
What kind of basil are you growing? (Just curious.)
I guess you could always try storing the leaves in the olive oil. Wanna do some like that and let us know how it goes?
thanks shoe - i only have about 8 plants, 3 of which are big enough to really start picking [i do pick leaves for regular flavoring now] thanks for letting me know that freezing turns 'em black and yucky too. i'm growing regular ole sweet basil and large leaf italian basil - they both look the same to me. will add some leaves to olive oil tomorrow and let you know in a few days!
Great! Thanks, am curious how it goes.
Are you pinching back the tips of the plants to help keep them nice and bushy? It also delays flowering if you pinch back the growing shoots at the third to fifth node.
still bright green :>)
Yay!!! This is great to hear!
You'll be eatin' pesto in no time, eh?
Thanks!
thanks sheran and shoe - it's still bright green in the fridge - i'll use the olive oil for the pesto - and maybe as just flavored oil. i'm getting ready to pick a fresh bunch today cuz there'll be enough to make a batch - do either of you have 'special' pesto recipes or should i use the one i have?
I made my first homemade pesto this summer and learned a few things about it.
First of all, home Pesto is GREAT! Boy am I growing my own Sweet Basil next year. If you've only had canned from the store you will want to try and make some.
Its yum-may!! :)
Its easy to make too.
Heres the recipe I used:
1½ cup packed basil leaves
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
¼ cup pine nuts, walnuts or pecans
2 cloves fresh garlic
1/3 to ½ cup olive oil
A little side note on Olive oil...if you are like me and don't care for the heavy flavor of virgin olive oil try Bertolli "Extra Light". Its very light tasting and does not taste like Olive oil and you can even use it in baking sweets. Bonus is its cold pressed and not refined.
www.bertolli.com
Anyway...
In a food processor chop/blend basil leaves, garlic and drizzle in oil, add cheese and nuts and thats it! Wa-la! Homemade Pesto! Add a little more oil if needed. You want the the consistency of very soft mashed potatoes.
Now the downside of fresh Basil. I found out it has no shelf life and spoils over night even in the frig. I found this out the hard way after buying a 1 pound bag of freshly picked organic Basil only to find it covered with black spots the next day. YIKES!
I did alot of asking around and found out about all you can do is process Basil in your food processor and add some olive oil to it and freeze it, or simply use it right away.
I was told not to freeze Pesto with the cheese in it but found this out after I had already made up a big batch of Pesto and put it in the freezer. But so far it has been fine and tastes and looks just fine after thawing and using in dishes.
Heres our recipe you might like to try for Chicken-Pesto Pizza:
Top your favorite pizza crust with the following:
Spoon and spread pesto evenly on the crust then layer on:
*boneless skinless chicken tenders that you have sautéed in olive oil and fresh garlic cloves. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Drain on paper towel, chop into small bite size pieces.
*roasted or sautéed fresh garlic cloves (as many as you want)
*thin sliced sweet onions
*thin sliced fresh Portobello mushrooms (or mushroom of your choice)
*grated Mozzarella cheese
*Gorgonzola crumbles
*grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
If using a ready-made crust bake on rack in oven at 425º for about 10 minutes or until cheese is melted and crust is light golden brown on edges. Otherwise bake as needed.
You can add other items like thin sliced green or red bell peppers, tomato slices, pine nuts or whatever you like but we get rave reviews with the above recipe
P.S.
There are ton of Pesto recipes out there.
Just go to www.google.com and type in Pesto.
i found that saving the leaves in olive oil did keep them fresh and green until i was ready to use them. thanks for these recipes - will try them too!
HH
How long do the leaves keep in oil?
i kept them in oil until i had enough to make 2 batches of pesto....at least a couple weeks. from that i'm assuming they'll keep as long as you need to since they usually blacken within a day or so
We have been making our own pesto for years, and freeze a large batch in small ziplocks with the cheese in it, so I am not sure why you would have been warned against it, Rose. Curious, any specifications as to why this is not a good thing?
Our top favorite appetizer in the whole world (and guarenteed artery clogger) is a block of Brie cheese nuked for about twenty seconds, topped with homemade pesto, roasted garlic heads, and sliced Italian salami. Place a clove, some cheese, some pesto on the salami and you are in heaven.
Yummy! That sounds delish, Ladyanne.
As for freezing pesto, we used to freeze it in ice cube trays (once frozen put the cubes in a freezer bag) then just pull out a few "cubes" at a time when needed.
Always froze it with the chees in it BUT sometimes have opted to leave the garlic out. Don't know why but sometimes the frozen garlic seemed to turn bitter, so we'd add the garlic when the pesto was thawed.
I make infused oils with entire basil leaves in it and they keep beautifully.
I used some of my FROZEN pesto the other day in a homemade spaghetti sauce that I cook for a long time and the cheese in the frozen pesto got a bit tough so it probably would be best to leave it out if you are going to freeze your pesto.
Now I add the frozen pesto towards the end of the cooking process.
Hmmm, think I will have some angel hair pasta and pesto for lunch! ;)
I make my pesto also with the Bertolli's light extra virgin olive oit then freeze it in ice cube trays for easy use.
I LOVE Bertolli's extra light olive oil!
Its great for baking and for peole who don't like the heavy taste of extra virgin.
This message was edited Dec 6, 2004 3:02 PM
Glad makes little storage cups, I freeze my pesto, leaving out the cheese, put them in these cups. They are great, and in small enough cups so that it serves a small amount, just enough for 2 to 3 people. Yes it is a dark green but the taste is great. As for oils, be careful, homemade oils can go rancid very easy. I make flavored vinager.Won a blue ribbon at the Montana State Fair for my dill and garlic vinager. Good luck.
Are you referring to homemade flavored oils left out on the shelf?
How about if kept in the frig?
Be careful also with olive oil in garlic. You can sprout botulism that way, which may not hurt a healthy adult but not so good for people with autoimmune deficiencies and small babies.
In general, homemade flavored oils should last a couple weeks on a shelf and maybe a couple months refridgerated.
No herb is any good after six months, no matter what form it's stored.
In addition to freezing my cheeseless pesto in lumps about 1/3C each (which is usually enough for pasta for 2), I also put the leaves and just enough olive oil to aid in processing into the food processor to mince the leaves. THIS mixture I also freeze in a jar (being sure all basil is covered in oil) to have fresh-tasting and STILL-Green basil to use in the dead of winter. If it sits for just a few minutes at room temp, you can use a fork to start scraping it out. (Or you can hurry it up by BRIEFLY nuking it, but then the very top of the batch does get discolored.) You could put the minced basil/oil mixture in ice cube trays to avoid that problem.
I use this same trick with all sorts of herbs, just mince them in the food processor, add a little oil, and freeze in ice cube trays. It helps with recipes later on if you measure how much fresh herb you started with so you can make little note on your freezer baggie full of herb cubes (eg, 1 cube = 1/4 c. fresh). I've done thyme, rosemary, and oregano this way in those mini ice cube trays. I've also frozen mixtures of herbs to use in winter batches of spaghetti sauce or stir fry (Thai basil, yum), and I've added garlic, ginger, hot peppers, even orange juice right to the mix. Leaving out salt is probably a good idea for freezing, but parmesan cheese doesn't seem to be a problem. I've never noticed much change in color from freezing, although I had some green pesto in the back of the freezer that got a little pale after (dare I admit this?) 2 1/2 years -- but it still tasted delicious!
I also make a "red pesto" from _Joy of Cooking_ that uses sundried tomatoes rather than nuts. We love it mixed into pizza dough!