How to make basil pesto – fresh Italian flavor

Basil pesto is delicious as a sauce or flavoring for many dishes. We grow different colors of basil in our garden and sometimes it just gets going and you have to harvest a lot of it. Basil pesto is a great way to use a couple bunches of basil. It will keep for awhile in the refrigerator. In the fall, we make a giant batch for the freezer to use all winter.

You will need a food processor, measuring spoons and cups, 2 tbsp cookie scoop, silicone baking mat or parchment paper, and baking sheet.

Grate the parmesan cheese.

Strip the basil leaves off the stem. Pack into 1-cup measure.

Add leaves to food processor. Pulse a couple times to decrease volume of leaves.

Add half the olive oil, walnuts, garlic, and grated cheese. Run the food processor until the ingredients are chopped and mixed. (If you have a large food processor, you may be able to make the whole recipe.)

Repeat with the second half of the ingredients.

Makes about 28 tablespoons.

Scoop the basil pesto onto a silicone mat on a baking sheet. When all the pesto is made and scooped, place the sheet in the freezer to flash freeze. This should take about 15 minutes.

Place the frozen scoops of basil pesto in labeled resealable freezer bags.

When using in a recipe, you can microwave 10 seconds at a time to soften. You can also add to the cooking pan and sauté and flip until it is defrosted enough to stir into the rest of the food.

Tips: 1) Try Romano cheese for different flavor; 2) Use minced garlic in a jar and grated parmesan from the deli to make this quicker; 3) Walnuts, though expensive, are less expensive than traditional pine nuts. They also freeze better. 4) Small batch: 1/2 cup basil leaves (1/2 condiment), 4 tbsp parmesan (4 condiments), 1 tbsp walnuts (2 healthy fats), 2 tbsp olive oil (6 healthy fats), 1 tsp garlic (1 condiment). Makes about 9 tbsp. I freeze 2 tbsp scoops and then put in a reclosable bag in the freezer (1.2 condiments, 1.78 healthy fats).