Excess Basil, originally uploaded by espeedy123.
To make way for more fall seedlings I pulled out a couple basil plants that had become quite overgrown in my raised garden. There was so much of it that it took a good hour or so to pick off all these leaves from a single plant.
A good way to store basil is by making pesto and then freezing it. If you freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray and then repackage the cubes, it makes for easy retrieval and use later on.
My pesto recipe is….
1-2 garlic cloves
2 cups basil
2 oz. parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt to taste, at least a couple teaspoons
Whirred up in the food processor, this is tough to beat. I find it it difficult to mess this up, especially if you adjust the flavors at the end for acidity and salt. If you find yourself without enough basil, throw in some spinach to extend the amount of sauce the recipe produces.
erin covert * hands on 
Super tasty I assure you. And convenient
Freezing garden pesto is how I found out that olive oil can go bad. Now that I know the difference in fresh and rancid olive oil, I don’t know how I endured even one much less three servings of my bad pesto. But in the retelling of my freezer full of pesto I couldn’t eat, I find there are a lot of young people who believe their year old olive oil is OK to keep. Don’t be fooled, this is a recipe of few ingredients and each one counts! Learn the difference between fresh and rancid oils before you ruin all your garden basil like I did.
Not sure if you grew any [Italian] parsley, but you can combine it with cilantro, garlic and a few other ordinary spices to make Chimichurri sauce. Very under-appreciated, and great on practically anything from the grill.
I got my recipe off Epicurious, and it was a hit at many dinner parties this summer.
and now for this condiment we want the leaves of olive
I tried the Chimichurri sauce last night – my kids loved it! Unbelievable, they’re so stinkin picky… thanks!
I will have to try the Chimichurri. Michael you sound like quite a good chef!