Foot and Fire

To say that I missed my pesto is an undestatement. I duper missed it.  Yes, recently, I made one and I used 3 kinds of basils and added brazilian spinach as extender. I have the long italian basil, genovese basil and sweet basil in the garden but I harvested a handful only. My dream of growing a lot of sweet basils and harvesting a basin of it at a time is still not coming true. Here's my lesson or motto. I willnot try any more basil varieties except for sweet basil (too delicate to grow and I didn't get to make them last into woody maturity the last time I grew a lot of them) and genovese basil (proudly grew them into sturdy woody stems now). They both smell like basil. The long basil does not satisfy my olfactory craving. Bye bye to my great expectations.  Brazilian Spinach Pine nuts, toasted Garlic Parmesan cheese Olive oil Himalayan Salt Put all ingredients in a blender. Blend until creamy. Store in a glass jar.  Use a spoonful in y...

I called this my Extended Psto because I don't want to annoy Italians with my version of their well loved pesto. Well, they started it and it's their fault that pesto is so good that I came to love it. Enough of teasing the Italians! hahahaha Of course, I have to use what is in my garden. Since Brazilian Spinach abound this weekend and I harvested a lot of my Genovese Basil and a few leaves of sweetbasil, I am obliged to utilize the ever greener Brazilian Spinach.  After a brawling match with my new blender, I churned out many batches of pesto. I used it for the french bread toast and flaked roasted chicken, spanish sardines angel hair pasta. Voila, a hearty meal.   Brazilian Spinach, wilted and chopped Genovese Basil A head of garlic, sliced Pine nuts Almonds Parmesan Himalayan salt Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO) Process by batch all ingredients in the blender or ideally in a food processor till pasty consistency is reached. Store in jars an...

My friend in Paris sent me Pine nuts when she saw me posted pesto using almond s as the base nut of the pesto. Since the original pesto uses Pine Nuts, she wanted me to create the real thing. So when I had the chance to get fresh sweet basil leaves, I immediately used it. Pine nuts is quite expensive if found in our grocery stores, so I also recommend the almonds in lieu of this rare one. Almonds in the pesto is dry while pine nuts is much more nutty and blends well. At any rate, the aromatic sweet basil is the base of it all and I loved both ways! 4 cups sweet basil 3-4 cloves garlic 1/2 cup Pine Nuts Salt and pepper to taste 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup reserve 1/2 cup grated Parmessan In a food processor, place the first four ingredients. Blend well while slowly adding the half cup Olive oil. Transfer in a glass bottle and Add Parmessan Cheese. Put the remaining 1/4 cup of Olive oil on top of the mixture. Best served as as sauce for pasta. Also serve on top of crackers as appet...

100g basil  1/2cup almonds  3 cloves garlic  1/2 cup olive oil  salt and pepper...  Put all ingredients a small portion at a time in a blender. And blend. *** *** Don't forget to patronize Fresh Start Organic Culinary Herbs... *** *** ***