Bountiful Basil

Today was the "picking" and J came home with -- I'm not exaggerating -- two trash bags full of basil. I seemed to remember that you can freeze pesto, so that's what I'm doing. We will have Pesto with Shrimp tonight, and then freeze enough for three or four more dinners.

There seems to be a good deal of controversy about whether or not you can freeze pesto with the cheese in it, or if you need to add that later. Martha Stewart comes down on the side of cheese in, so what's good enough for Martha is good enough for me!

This recipe should be thought of as a formula. You can multiply it by the number of cups of basil you have. This is for two cups.

Pesto

Ingredients

• 2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed.
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese  (I've been known to use a mix!)
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts
• 3 garlic cloves, minced.

Preparation

1. Place basil leaves int the bowl of the food processor and process until chopped fine. You will have to give them a couple of stirs to make sure everything gets chopped.

2. Add the cheese, garlic and nuts and process until the mixture is finely chopped. Again, stop and stir to make sure everything is well mixed.

3. With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the oil through the feed tube.  Process until the mixture forms a smooth paste.

To serve immediately:

1. Prepare pasta according to the package directions. I like bow ties or other ruffly pasta, but you pick what you like best.

2. When the pasta is al dente, drain it, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking water. Return the pasta to the pot.

3. Process the pesto sauce with enough of the cooking water so that the pesto is loose. Add it to the pasta and mix well until all the pasta is well coated.

4. Taste and correct for seasoning.

To freeze:
The interwebs suggest two approaches: to freeze the pesto in ice cube trays or in little jars. Ice cube trays just seem too fussy, so I bought freeze containers made by the Ball canning people. Either way, after you fill the container with pesto, you want to pour a thin coating of oil on the top so that the pesto is protected from the air.