Wanted: A Lifetime Supply of Basil

Really. How did I go 18 years of my life without ever having eaten pesto? And to think, if my friend hadn't given me a bite of his reheated, leftover pesto one afternoon, I'd have had no inkling that it was even remotely decent! After all, it is suspiciously green and healthy looking. The first time I made pesto I mentioned it in this blog, back in May, 2 whole years since the first time I tried it. Since then I've made it at least 5 times, but now the floodgates are really opened. I've always made it in a blender, which is really a pain cleaning. But my mother was in town recently and she bought me a food processor which is really MUCH better. So now I just need about a thousand pounds of basil and I'll be happy. Anyone want to help me out?

Here's the recipe for the pesto. I think I cited this site in my first post about pesto, but at this point I don't really use a recipe anymore. (Forgive my approximations.)
Basil Pesto
Serves 3-4
2 packages basil (something like 4.5 oz?)
1 small package walnuts (maybe 1.5-2 oz?)
4 cloves garlic (more or less depending on how garlicy/spicy you want it, but having too much garlic is better than not having enough, if you ask me.)
A lot of Parmesan cheese (I really don't have anything resembling an amount here. 1/2-3/4 cup?)
Olive oil (1/3 cup?)

Put that all in some sort of blending/chopping device until it's chopped up and blended together. You can make it really fine if you like really homogeneous mixtures, but if you're into bigger flares of flavor, you might want to keep a little more texture. You might also have to go into your blender/food processor with a spoon and make sure the stuff on the top gets into the blades at the bottom.

Serving suggestions: I had it over about 3/4- 1 lb of pasta. Adding lots of feta cheese to the mixture really makes it outstanding, making that garlic really interesting without being too much. I served it with a form of bruchetta (mozzarella slices melted over bread topped with the pesto and tomatoes) and I usually do that. The tomatoes help cool off the garlic.

I served the meal with a Tapena Tempranillo, which was almost what it needed. The wine was a little too mellow. It needed a little more heat and a little more spice. It was kind of surprising that the smoothness of the wine was the problem. Young old world reds are usually the opposite of smooth, but then, it wasn't an expensive wine either (something like $8), so it might just not have had the interest I wanted it to. We were contemplating buying a dry white of some sort, but a strong, spicy red was definately a good decision, even if this wine wasn't the wine for the job.

I've also used the sauce as a pizza sauce before (with mozzarella and feta cheese) and it would have been great for the shrimp pizza I made a few weeks back.

I'm going to be honest and say that whatever recipe you use for pesto, you should throw it away and try this one. I have not had pesto anywhere else that was better. I had a really disappointing spinach-oregano-basil vegan pesto recently (although it is very possible that I just don't like spinach, and the pesto was okay), as well as a commercial pesto. My brother says pesto tastes like grass and I believe that whatever pesto he's eaten does taste like grass. Mine absolutely does not. Give it a shot!

When I made this recently, I tried to make a fried mozzarella that I could top with tomatoes and pesto (instead of using bread for the base) but I couldn't figure out frying mozzarella. I clearly missed something when I was foodgawking the topic. So, I had to make do with (quite yummy) bruchetta like substances.

I also failed at making chocolate lava cakes. For some reason, the center just wasn't molten. There was clearly a different filling than the outer cake, and it was kind of a moist fudge, half cooked brownie type thing, but it wasn't molten. However, my boyfriend described it as possibly the best chocolate cake he'd ever had, so it wasn't all bad. SO rich though, I've got to say.

The week before the pesto I made some steak I marinated in apple-cider vinegar and soy sauce (also some garlic, pepper, salt and olive oil). I pan seared it and then put it in the oven. Somehow, I do a pretty bad job at cooking steaks medium rare in the oven, which is what I prefer, but I did get medium out of it, so that was nice. The flavor of the steak was exactly what I was looking for, although not all parties agreed that this would be their first choice marinade.

I served it with asparagus, which I've not only never made, I've also never eaten. (I'm not a big green thing fan.) I put butter, salt and a little lemon juice on them and just baked them for 6-7 minutes. This time was slightly under the internet's consensus, so I blame the pathetic looking result on the local grocery store. The asparagus they had were kind of thin to begin with, so they cooked down a lot and probably over cooked. I didn't like them, they were a little bitter, but I think that was just me and my weird tastebuds. The consensus was that the asparagus were actually good. I'm going to fess up right now and tell you that the mashed potatoes were instant potatoes. Garlic and herb instant potatoes. So let's just move on from there.

My next post will probably be about the restaurant I ate at this past weekend. I'm also planning to make chicken enchiladas tonight, so that might be coming up soon as well! Oh! And! If you read this blog, you should follow or comment! Thanks :)