Fresh Basil Pesto

Green and gorgeous! Fresh basil pesto.

Fresh Basil Pesto – Pesto Genoese (vegetarian and vegan options)

Fresh basil: aniseedy, aromatic, tempting and prolific. If you can find the right spot for it, in a warm corner of the garden away from slugs, it grows perfectly in a pot. All you have to do is buy one of those supermarket pots of forced basil, for which I always feel very sorry, and take each little plantlet out, carefully separating them each from their too-close mates, and plant them in your pot in rich compost. Basil likes sun, warmth, lots of food and water, and it will reward you with the most amazing vibrant harvest. Keep taking the tops off the plants to avoid them going to seed and you will get beautiful big juicy leaves all the way into September. Even if you don’t grow it yourself, you can often get big bags of leafy basil from grocers which are very good value.

Home made pesto is by far and away better and different from the shop-supplied stuff. Bought pesto is perfectly good but try making your own and you won’t look back. You can adjust the garlic and lemon to your exact taste too, but there’s something about the freshness of the basil coming through. It’s quick to make and keeps in the fridge for weeks so you can keep a fresh pot going from July onwards and have enough to give away too.

Vegetarian parmesan is available which seems to taste fine, so that’s a good alternative if you prefer to avoid parmesan. For a vegan version you can leave out the cheese altogether and add a teaspoon of nutritional yeast for the umami feel.

Pesto is so versatile; it deserves a superlative. Here are just a few uses for it

• Spoon a bit out from your jar in the fridge, loosen with olive oil and you have the best and tastiest dip for a slice of baguette.
• Splodge two spoonfuls onto cooked pasta, along with a spoonful of the cooking water, and you have the simplest sauce, tasting of summer and sunshine.
• Use it to marinate chicken or lamb or halloumi, which you then grill, intensifying the herbiness.
• Drizzle and dab it over a tomato and mozzarella salad.
• Spread it in a sandwich over pretty much any vegetable or chicken filling.
• Or just dip a teaspoon in the jar as you pass the fridge to give you an instant hit of goodness and a glow of pride in your own achievement.

I keep some clean old small jars in order to keep the pesto fresh. Old mustard jars or marmite jars are ideal, they are the exact right size for a portion of pesto for 4 people and they have a plastic top, which works better with pesto as you don’t want metal touching the puree or it will react and turn black.

Pine nuts are not cheap but they are worth it. You don’t need a lot, and if you buy a pack you can always use up the rest on a salad for lunch, they are wonderful lightly fried and salted.

Makes 2 small jars or one marmite jar, enough for about 8 portions of pasta or to marinade 8 chicken breasts                                                  Timings:  20 minutes

• 40g basil leaves – 2 large handfuls, clean (you may not want to wash them, but pick any brown bits and bugs off)
  
• 40g pine nuts
  
• 60g olive oil, doesn’t have to be the very best bitter virgin oil, and you could use half olive and half other vegetable oil if you want
  
• 1 spoon fresh lemon juice, 7g
  
• 4g salt
  
• 15g grated parmesan or vegetarian hard cheese alternative – note, please buy a piece of parmesan and grate it yourself rather than using one of the ready made sachets or tubs of grated cheese – they often contain all sorts of chemicals that keep it from sticking together, and you don’t want to ruin good parmesan which is a highly regulated natural product.
• ½ clove garlic, squashed with salt

Put everything together in a large straight container and process with a stick blender until smooth and creamy. Add a little more salt and lemon juice to taste, and a grind of black pepper if you like. Test the texture, the end of season basil has more structure than the early leaves so you might need a bit more olive oil and lemon juice in your last batches of the year.

Spoon into your clean small jars and then dribble a layer of olive oil on top, which helps keep it fresh.
Keeps in the fridge for at least 2 weeks, if you replace the olive oil when you take a spoonful out.