Pesto!

 

The first time I ate risotto with pesto swirled in at N’s house is a memorable day. It was like the food was singing to me, in a very pesto-ish tone, and a green hue. Yes, its possible to feel all this and much more with food. Especially, with anything related to basil. Its like smelling spring. Somehow reminding me of childhood(though Italian Basil didn’t feature in my childhood food stories, that’s the whole magic!).

The first time I made my own batch of pesto was another memorable day. Those were the initial days of me getting back into my kitchen, and the minute I made the pesto batch , I felt a very gloating Domestic Goddess like feeling, something was swelling in my heart, and something was smelling good in my house, wait , that has to be the fresh smell of Basil in my house! :-)

I’ve made pesto in smaller quantities ever since, but only off late did I start making big batches of pesto, and started freezing them in ice-trays. To eliminate any chance of my pesto ruining itself and catching fungus. And to ensure that I have pesto stashed anytime of the month/year. Its not like we have to freeze all our herbs in India, but Italian Basil is still not available in abundance here, and hence these desperate measures.

If you are an Indian, especially a South Indian and are used to make those chutneys for the Idlis and Dosas , then you are already half-familiar with the pesto making process. It is basically a basil based chutney. But with cheese. There are many variations of Pesto. You can refer to these links for some of them -

Jamie’s Pesto
Nags’ pesto recipe

Ingredients
Basil leaves – Washed, a bunch
Pine nuts – Toasted, a handful
Extra virgin olive oil – 4-5 tbsps
Garlic – 2-4 cloves
Sea salt – to taste

Instructions
Ground all the ingredients in a mixer-grinder , drizzling the olive oil generously. The resultant mixture should have a smooth texture.
Pour scoops of this into the ice-tray and freeze it. Once frozen, remove them and store in zip lock bags for future use.

Use one cube of pesto while cooking a meal for two.

Note
1. There are some variations of pesto in which you can use toasted almonds instead of pine nuts.
2. You can do away with the parmesan cheese. Its quite expensive in India, and I prefer it fresh on my pasta, not in the pesto. I don’t normally put any cheese in my pesto.