PESTO IS THE BESTO!

I've never had pesto  before, the jars in the grocery have never seemed appetizing to me, it always looked like an oily, olive green sludge. To make it at home you need 2 cups of packed basil leaves, that's a lot of basil.  Especially when it's sold in the local grocery for 3 dollars for a couple of scrawny sprigs.  But this year I had an abundance of basil that had to be picked due to the frost.  So why not try it?  Really it has several of my favorite things, basil, garlic, parmesan and olive oil, how bad could it be?  It's great!  Easy to make and packs a big flavor in a small amount.  I used a scant tablespoon for my pasta and really it would have been enough for two servings of pasta instead of just one.  There are many ways to use it to add flavor to sauces, pasta, vegetables or meat.

Basil Pesto with Lemon

Makes about 1 1/2 cups pesto

2 cups fresh basil leaves (packed into measuring cup)
3-4 cloves fresh garlic, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil (choose a a flavorful olive oil for pesto)
1/2 cup pine nuts
3/4 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste.

Wash basil leaves if needed and spin dry or dry with paper towels. Put basil leaves and sliced garlic into food processor that's been fitted with the steel blade and process until basil and garlic is finely chopped, adding oil through the feed tube as you process. (You may need to take off the lid and scrape the sides with a rubber scraper if you have a hard time getting the basil all chopped.)

Add pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and lemon juice to the chopped basil mixture and process 1-2 minutes more, until the pesto is mostly pureed and well mixed. (I like to keep it slightly chunky, but you can make it as finely pureed as you wish.)

Season to taste with salt and fresh ground black pepper and pulse a few times more.

Store basil pesto in the refrigerator in a glass jar, where it will keep for more than a week. Pesto can also be frozen.