things to do with fresh basil

It's been too long since we've had a recipe (F. told his wife last month that my blog was "basically half book reviews and half recipes" and I've been neglecting both). So in honor of the gorgeous summer produce I've been enjoying since recovering my good standing with the food coop, here's a simple and very good recipe for fresh pesto.

I made this because the co-op has these beautiful heirloom tomatoes right now, and I got it in my head the other night that all I wanted to eat was a massive plateful of basic caprese salad. All very well, except the fresh basil came in enormous bouquet-like bunches, with the dirt from some small farm in New Jersey still crusted on the roots, and I only needed a few leaves. But since the price was so cheap--about $1.15--I decided I might as well take home a small bush's worth and save it to make pesto the next day. Which I did. Don't let anybody tell you you need a food processor to make pesto--a good blender will do just fine. Here's what you need:

1 cup tightly-packed fresh basil leaves
1-2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
1/4 cup tightly-packed fresh-grated parmigiano reggiano (resist the temptation to cheat: if you use that crappy-ass powdered stuff you're wasting your time, and your lovely basil)
1/4 cup good-quality olive oil
1 heaping tablespoon pine nuts
1/4 tsp sea salt or kosher salt

Put it all in the blender or food processor and chop, then puree. Eat with anything you like. It will store in the fridge for several days. The above amount is suitable for two servings of pasta--see below--but can easily be doubled if you want a jar to last all week.

My favorite thing to do with fresh pesto (well, any decent pesto) is an easy pasta dish--linguine or penne dressed in the pesto, with halved cherry or grape tomatoes, a sprinkling of extra pine nuts, and a dusting of shaved parmesan. This time I'd purchased a punnet of organic yellow and red cherry/grape/pear tomatoes at the coop--they're a pretty contrast to the shocking chlorophyll green of the fresh pesto, and their sweetness is a nice counterpoint to the salty richness of the sauce. If you like creamy pesto sauces, throw in a few tablespoonfuls of good plain yogurt--you could probably just use cream as well, but I like the tangy edge from the yogurt, and it's healthier as well. Serve warm or cold, as a main or a side dish.

This recipe evolved at 2 a.m. on a cold March morning in Oxford. I'd been up late watching the German food movie (I know, German food movie? but it's mainly fetishizing Italian food) Bella Martha/Mostly Martha, and when it ended I had an irrepressible appetite for pasta. At 2 a.m. in Oxford the only hot food available is from kebab vans, so I stumbled into the kitchen, found some whole-wheat spaghetti, stole a few spoonfuls of pesto from my housemate SH's jar, and topped it off with a spoonful of greek yogurt and some wrinkly cherry tomatoes which, like most tomatoes in England, were sad and pale. At the time, it seemed like one of the most satisfying things I've ever eaten. Since then it's been a dependable quickie, but with homemade pesto and sweet, in-season baby tomatoes, it's perfect simple summer food.