With the abundance of basil in my garden deck rail planter this summer (and a recent onslaught of teeny critters), I figured I'd better get some pesto made. We've used the basil in ice cream and on top of mozzarella and ripe tomatoes, but another delicious use will be on homemade angel hair pasta or vermiccelli.I poured through a couple of my favorite cookbooks (Smitten Kitchen by Deb Perelman, In Season by Sarah Raven, the Silver Palate bibles by Julie Rosso, and Sheila Lukins and The Sprouted Kitchen by Sara Forte).
I settled on Sara Forte's recipe and even though I didn't have a Meyer lemon, I'll be sure to next time! The recipe is actually for Lentil Meatballs with Lemon Pesto. (The Silver Palate recipes always include walnuts instead of pine nuts.) My search brought me to some delicious ideas (cilantro pesto) and I think I've got some work cut out for me next weekend.1 clove garlic (I used two minced)
1/4 c. pine nuts (I used 1/3 cup)
Zest and juice of one Meyer lemon (I used a regular lemon)
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup packed fresh basil leaves (I really packed them in)
1/3-1/2 c. olive oil
2 T. freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used an Asiago mix)
2 T. water (my basil was still wet from the rinse so I didn't add water)
I used an immersion blender (my small processor was broken and it wasn't enough for the Cuisinart food processor) and blended the garlic, nuts, lemon zest and juice, salt together. Then I added the basil leaves a handful at a time.
I then added 1/3 c. olive oil and a bit more during processing with the cheese.
