Presto Pesto

The kitchen is a magical place. Full of delicious whiffs, tastes and buzzing with creativity. We needn't turn on the TV to get inspired to cook. Rather, a walk through your local farmers market, your weekly CSA pick up or your own garden is inspiration enough. This year the veggies are extremely beautiful and well worth the effort preserving the summer's harvest.

Working in a few kitchens, I can tell you that preparing pestos is a great way to preserve the herbs that are growing in abundance and given the right conditions, you too can enjoy fresh fragrant basil in your own kitchen without a pricey flight to Italy.

Rules to good herbal mixes:

1. Okay so get chopping after you've been shopping. -Don't let your herbs sit in the fridge! The best herbs are freshly picked whether its from your own garden or your neighbours or local market. I made a terrible mistake with Cilantro once leaving it for 3 days beside our milk. Cilantro milk was not very popular and the leaves were terribly unimpressed with my lack of enthusiasm.



2. Some herbs do better than others for making pesto. Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Rocket and Tarragon all make excellent pesto. Some herbs can be pretty over powering (Sage, Thyme or Lovage) These are best frozen. If you chop them and freeze in a block you can use a grater and grate into you soup, dip or whatever you are preparing.



3. Wash and dry your herbs carefully. Herbs need extra care -basil can be very unforgiving if you have a dull knife or making them spin around. Gently wash, do not submerge them in water for extended periods of time and pat dry to preserve their flavour and colour.



4. Use ingredients you cook with. If you are making a pesto or pistou with basil and you add an ingredient you wouldn't use in the end recipe, why would you put it in the pesto? Which leads me to my next point which is...



5. Leave the garlic out if you are not cooking it. Uncooked garlic once frozen can change the flavour in a negative way. I like to roast my garlic and add fresh later on. Its up to you and you may never notice the difference. You be the judge. Your palette is important too.



6. Mortar and Pestle versus the food processor. I like a food processor for big batches or if you want to use stems. (Cilantro stems can be used in this case) But every kitchen should have a mortar and Pestle. Its a great way to work out any frustrations you could experience through the day.



7. Pine nuts are delicious but sun flower seeds work too. Along with alot of other nuts. I have seen walnuts in commercial pesto. I don't like the taste of it but hey, someone obviously does. And please roast them. If you are going to spend the coin on pine nuts at least have the decency to treat them to a light roast. Roasting them gives better flavour. And that is the entire point of this -flavour!



8. Olive Oil is good but so is Sunflower or Canola. You can always use a mixture if you like and depending on how you are using your pesto, you may choose one over another.



9. Refrigerate and/or freeze. Your pesto will last up to two weeks in the fridge or a couple of months in the deep freeze. Do not leave it sit out. As an old cooking chum once said, "things boiling in the fridge are never a good sign."



10. Cleaning out your machine. Throw a block of cream cheese, some ricotta or make some flavourful mayonnaise in it with the left over mix. I have even grated cheese into it. An herb is a terrible thing to waste.

Basil Pesto or Pesto Genovese or (without the nuts) Pistou

6 cups of Basil- 2/3 cup roasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts -3/4 cup of Parmesan Regianno- 2 heads of roasted garlic -1 cup of olive oil-juice of half a lemon-salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro Pesto (absolutely amazing with eggplant roasted)

4 cups of Cilantro -2/3 cup of sunflower seeds-half head of roasted garlic- juice of two limes or half a lemon-1/2 cup sunflower oil-salt and pepper -and if you like it spicy throw in a jalapeno for a little zing!

So now that you have scads of delicious pesto, what will you be making?

Cilantro pesto is great in Curries, stir frys, and salsa and dips. Basil is great with pasta, salad dressings, dips, bread... and really when you think about it... the only limit is your imagination.

This morning I made scrambled eggs with Garlic Scape pesto. I will be baking bread and using some basil pesto for foccasia bread later on today.... you get the idea! Throw half a cup with some black olives and make a fantastic tapanade or with some chick peas and make some really great bean dips. Start cooking and the end result will be delicious!