It is high season for basil, which means high season for pesto. I forgot to pick up basil from the farm this week, but one of the neighbors’ friends, in gratitude for Sangría Night, sent some over from the overabundance in her own garden.
From Lindsay’s Garden
Between that and my little plants scattered around the yard, I had enough for a quickie pesto for Leandro’s couscous.
From our garden – not the greatest shot, but the other ones showed all the perforations from unknown creatures feasting merrily on my herbs!
And then, BONUS! I had Leandro making his own dinner! He loves the smell of basil, but what he truly couldn’t resist was a go with the pestle. Nothing like offering a five-year-old a club and saying “Have at it, kid. Call me when you’ve beaten this stuff to a pulp.”
The Little Chef at work
He was tremendously excited at every turn, making me smell all the different aromas as we added ingredients to the mortar. We mixed it into couscous for lunch with the grands and wasn’t he so proud to have made The Best Pesto Ever? We were proud too and it really was delicious. I also used some of it to spread on roasted eggplant, peppers and zucchini. What a terrific lunch! And a wonderful kitchen experience!
Note the unorthodox use of walnuts (Poor Marcella Hazan; I use her The Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking all the time, but never quite stick to the classical line). I can’t afford to keep pine nuts around so walnuts were a worthy and handy substitute. (Mind you, with the price of walnuts rising — around $18 now for a 3-lb bag at Costco these days, up from $15 not too many months ago — who knows how long I’ll be able to afford those!). Also, this recipe can certainly be increased; I only had a cup of basil.
With Couscous
Hand-Ground Pesto (Mortar and Pestle needed)
1 Cup basil leaves, tightly packed (washed in cold water and patted dry)
1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
2 Tbs walnuts
Coarse sea salt (pinch by pinch, to taste)
¼ Cup freshly grated parmigiano reggiano (additional Tbs romano cheese optional)
¼ Cup extra virgin olive oil
In a mortar and pestle (marble mortar with wooden pestle is what Marcella Hazan recommends; I use all marble) grind basil leaves, garlic, walnuts, and sea salt into a paste. Add cheese and use pestle to mix well. Add the oil in a thin stream, mixing well with a wooden spoon.
If using pasta, this amount will suffice for about a pound, Reserve some of the pasta cooking water to thin the pesto as you turn it into the pasta. If using couscous, start with two Cups dry (Israeli-style couscous – the big kind – preferred)
On stacked grilled veggies
Tags: basil, cooking, cooking with kids, couscous with pesto, food, hand-grinding pesto, kid-friendly recipes, pasta dishes, pesto, pesto by mortar method, recipes
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