A Pesto Afternoon

"You've got to do something about that basil..." said the Head Gardener.
He was right; it was time.

I shopped at Costco for my ingredients, found a good recipe online here, and set out to harvest the pungent green basil.

This is maybe a third of what was out there.
I washed and pulled off the leaves to the dulcet strains of Mixed Martial Arts wafting into the kitchen from the TV in the next room--19 year old Chad loves to watch that sport. "It's like street fighting, but civilized..."

My leaves took about 2 hours to prepare. Then came the fun part.

Toasting the pine nuts adds to the flavor of the pesto. You have to be quick, though, or they will scorch.

Basil, salt, olive oil, parmesan, garlic, pine nuts: that's it!

Into the Cuisinart they go....

....and from there, into the freezer.
I made one batch with no parmesan for Esther, my son Max's girlfriend who is a vegan. It was actually quite delicious and light without the cheese.

Pizza and pasta with pesto, come winter, will tastily remind us of these warm summer days....