Culinary Disasters

I love basil pesto not only does it make the perfect appetizer on some grilled bread but hey for a quick and dirty meal cook up some pasta and toss it with that.  You could mix in some sun dried tomatoes and stuff it in a chicken breast or pork tenderloin or just take a spoon and start eating.  If that has not sold you on the merits of the pesto well then it takes less than 5 minutes to make.  Take that Sandra Lee and your crappy pre-made from a can recipes that are suppose to be convenient but I could only imagine taste like licking sucking on a penny while eating a stale jelly doughnut.  Ok that last analogy was horrendous I know but hey it is early and I am still only on my second cup of coffee so cut me some slack. 

Anyways, with a fully producing herb garden at the present moment it is time once again to turn my attention to giving some love to the herbage.  Pretty soon the tomatoes and peppers will be in full swing.  Oh yeah speaking of peppers so I grabbed this pepper starter months ago I had never heard of.  Planted it, watered it, and all that good stuff.  Well he grew up big, strong, and produced peppers.  So last night I was in the garden weeding and noticed the pepper was ready for the picking.  Since 90% of the garden produce gets ate while I am working in the garden I naturally reached over, grabbed it, and took a bite (I know blah blah always wash produce blah blah blah so sue me).  Ok if you read this blog you know I love hot stuff but this pepper was like Satan knocked up a habanero and this was their evil offspring.  Also, makes me happy because I see some jerk chicken in my immediate future with this variety. 

When I actually remember to read the tag next to the plant I will post the pepper variety.

Ok enough rambling and more pesto action.  For this recipe you will need:

• 2 cups of basil leaves
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/3 cup of pine nuts
• 1/2 cup of parmesan or romano cheese (I went with parmesan because I have a block I am currently trying to use up).
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/3 cup to 1/2 cup of oil depending on how thick you want the pesto to be

Be prepared for the hardest instructions…..drum roll please…..take the basil, pine nuts, and garlic and toss them into you food processor.  Pulse a few times to get everything combined up.  Drizzle in olive oil while running the food processor till you have reached your desired consistency (I prefer thicker so I usually stick with about 1/3 cup).  Once all the oil is in dump in the cheese and pulse a couple of times.  Taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

p.s. do you like my 1970s JcPenny food processor that absolutely refuses to die?  Actually for as much of an eye sore this food processor is I think I would be crushed when it does die.  Hell I would probably actually pay to have it rebuilt.

I had picked up some awesome bread and already had the grill going for another project so I slathered some extra virgin on the bread and grilled it for a couple minutes a side.

Tags: Base, Appetizer, All //