Urban Harvest is selling 1lb bags of organic basil at the moment so I decided to buy a bag and make pesto. I had no idea what 1lb of basil looked like but it is about a bread bag full and ends up being about 12 cups of loosely packed leaves.
I used brazil nuts and almonds but you can experiment with different nuts. Pine nuts are traditional. Lots of recipes call for walnuts but I don't like those.
I freeze my pesto flat in bags and break off pieces when I need it for pasta or as a sauce for a pizza. Apparently it's great as a salad dressing too but I've never tried that. If you keep it in the fridge it will last a few weeks but you need to keep a layer of olive oil on top to keep it fresh.
BASIL PESTO
1 lb bag of basil
4 cloves garlic, crushed with the side of a knife
1 cup raw nuts (mine is brazil and almond)
4 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 tsp salt or more to taste
Cracked fresh pepper
Fill the sink with water and dump the bag of basil into the cold water to wash it even if it has already been washed. You never know who's hands have touched it! Remove about 3 cups of leaves from the stems.
In a food processor, blend the nuts, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, water, salt, pepper and the 3 cups of basil leaves. Once that has become a paste, add another 3 cups of basil leaves. The leaves will have water on them from being washed so that will add moisture to the pesto. Keep going until you have used all the basil.
Taste. Add more salt, lemon juice, olive oil, water depending on your preference for flavour and consistency.
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