Macy's Pesto

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This recipe is more than a recipe.  It starts each year with the planting of the garden.  Macy and I will typically plant between 10-12 basil plants in the garden.  Come Mid to Late August, we harvest all the basil and make our annual batch of Pesto.  With 10-12 plants harvested, we can typically expect to make about 1.5 gallons of pesto.  The recipe below is a "per batch" recipe.  We can fit one "batch" in the food processor at a time.  This recipe can be used as a single batch, for a quick meal, snack or spread.  It can also be iterated on for large volume processing and preserving (detailed later)

What you need:

-  2C tightly packed Basil Leaves

-  1/4 to 1/2 cup Olive Oil (plus some for possible storage)

-  1/4c grated Parmesan

-  1/2c Pine Nuts

-  1Tbsp Garlic (minced is ideal, even though this is going into a processor)

-  1/2 tsp Salt

-  1/2 tsp Ground Black Pepper

-   A food processor is ideal, but you could make this with a morter and pestal.  For the food processor, it should hold at least 3 Cups, minimum.

-  Freezer containers for preserving (optional, for large volume processing)

What you do:

-  Working in batches:

   -  Carefully add all of the ingredients to the bowl of a food processor.  We find it helpful to add all the basil first, so the small, granular ingredients don't sit on the bottom and dont get mixed well.  

   -   slowly add the Olive Oil to the processor and process the ingredients until you get the desired consistency.  You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl periodically, to get all of the ingredients to process.

   -   Once the desired consistency is achieved, scrape the contents of the processor bowl into a larger bowl, either for storing, serving, or (for volume processing) staging.

   -  Repeat this process as needed.

Storing:

-  Short term storage is simple, just put the Pesto into a bowl and put it in the frig.  should last a few days to a week.  If the pesto looks dry, or starts to brown a bit, add a thin layer of olive oil, but don't mix it in.  The olive oil will help keep a seal over the pesto and prevent browning.  When serviving, just mix in the extra oil.

-  Long term storage is limited to just the freezer.  While commercially, it is possible to can pesto and make it shel-stable, few, if any, home cooks have the equipment to do so.  Our practice is to fill half-pint freezer containers with Pesto, add a thin layer olive oil to the top, as you might for short term storage, and then put in the freezer.  In the freezer, Pesto will last for months and months.