This year, I tried my hand at growing herbs! I have to say, growing them on a condo balcony has not been easy. But my motivation was to make even more dishes using fresh herbs and you KNOW how much that can run you at the grocery store. This $10 basil plant has been worth it's weight in gold. Not only has it given me a TON of basil for all sorts of dishes, but it looks nice on my patio too :).For dinner tonight, I made tortellini with fresh pesto sauce. And the results were delicious!
To make the pesto:
2 Cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/4 Cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese
1/2 Cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
1/2 tsp salt
Place basil leaves in small batches in food processor and whip until well chopped (do about 3/4 cup at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, blend again. Add about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down sides of container.
Process basil pesto until it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well. Serve over pasta.
Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator one week, or freeze for a few months.
Spoon it onto store bought, refrigerated cheese tortellini, such as Buitoni. Enjoy!
How easy was that?! And if you need any basil, I'm only too HAPPY to give you some!
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