The Great Basil Harvest – Pesto

My family loves pesto. It was the first meal I ever cooked for my wife, although she complained my pesto didn’t contain enough garlic. (Not a bad sign for a potential relationship.) Now we eat it on grown up grilled cheese sandwiches, sautéed veggies, and bruschetta. We smear it on fish, tuck it into grilled chicken sandwiches with fresh mozzarella, and stuff it into ravioli topped with a pesto-Parmesan cream sauce. We make pesto flavored dips and pesto pizza. And of course we have it on pasta.

To make all that pesto, I annually grow some 100 basil plants, which get picked, processed, and frozen each year during the Great Basil Harvest. While my family never helped very much in the garden, with all that basil, I always needed help – just once a summer – with the Great Basil Harvest. Unfortunately, it was challenging for parents and children alike.

We would sit on the porch or outside under the apple tree. I would pull whole basil plants out of the ground and place them in the middle of our small circle and we would get picking. The tender, fragrant green leaves had to be separated from the stiff, woody stems, and with so many plants it would take over an hour. Inevitably the children stalled and would take their time getting there so they would have to pick less. And after they did settle into picking the viable leaves off the plants, the fighting and complaining would commence. Everyone got their own shopping bag in which to place their picked leaves, and of course this led to comparisons about how much work we all did. My son was the worst; his bounty was always way less than half that of anyone else. Eventually the kids would get bored and the bickering and arguing would escalate. When it became too much, my wife and I would dismiss them to preserve our sanity and finish the picking ourselves.

After picking all the leaves, I still had to make the pesto before the basil shriveled and lost its flavor. Unlike picking, my daughter loved to help with this part of the pesto-making process. We would stand by the sink and do a double wash of the leaves. We removed as much water as possible using a salad spinner. And then we made it into a smooth paste in the food processor, combined with garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, and salt. At the end of the day, we would have a large metal bowl filled with fresh pesto to be divided among small containers and frozen, ready for meals throughout the year. (I never freeze my pesto with cheese, but instead add it at the time of serving.)

Now that my children are older and away during much of the summer, the Great Basil Harvest falls on my shoulders. To make it easier, I divide the picking into smaller harvests throughout the summer. I cut the tops off plants in mid-summer, processing them, allowing new growth that will be harvested and processed later. I also plant a second crop mid-way through the season so I have younger, more vibrant plants throughout the summer and into early fall.

My yearly pesto supply is a critical component of how we eat throughout the year, and I always worry that something will happen and there won’t be enough to last until the next summer. When Superstorm Sandy hit in 2012 we lost power for about a week. We had already endured that year’s Great Basil Harvest and a full year’s stock of pesto was packed away in the basement freezer. Without electricity, it was not the frozen chicken or soup I was worried about losing; it was the pesto. Luckily with a little forethought (I froze many plastic containers of water before the storm to keep it cold), and making sure not to open the freezer, nothing spoiled and the pesto was saved. The Great Basil Harvest was not wasted.

While the Great Basil Harvest was an exercise in family dynamics at the time, upon reflection, it is one of those memories I will always treasure. It was time spent with my wife and kids harvesting something I grew myself, making it into a food we all cherish. I hope it taught my children something about gardening and food, and ingredients and family that they will carry on as they grow and move on with their lives. I hope the Great Basil Harvest was an experience my children will look back upon fondly, even if I was the one who always had the most basil leaves in my shopping bag at the end of the day.

Marcella Hazan’s Pesto

People make pesto with all kinds of ingredients today, but I prefer traditional pesto made with Genovese basil. My pesto is based on the definitive recipe by Marcella Hazan (presented here verbatim), whose Italian cookbooks (The Classic Italian Cookbook and More Classic Italian Cooking) belong in every kitchen. Of course I usually tweak her recipe; I add an extra clove or two of garlic (to make my wife happy) and a bit more pine nuts, and I usually skip the butter, although it does add a wonderful creaminess if you are serving the pesto over pasta.

Pesto freezes beautifully in small serving sizes in ice cube trays or small plastic containers I purchase at the dollar store. If it’s kept fresh in the refrigerator, a layer of olive oil on top will keep the basil below it somewhat fresh for at least a few days, if not longer.

While puréeing the ingredients, use the pulse setting on the food processor. If you just let it run, the basil will get warm from the motor and will turn brown more quickly. I’ve also read that adding a little parsley or spinach to the mix helps to keep it a vibrant green color while doing nothing to change the flavor.

30 minutes, 6 servings

For the Processor

2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves

½ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 Tbsp. pine nuts

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine before putting in the processor

Salt

For Completion by Hand

½ cup freshly grated parmigiana-reggiano cheese

2 Tbsp. freshly grated romano cheese

3 Tbsp. butter, softened to room temperature

1½ pounds pasta

1. Briefly soak and wash the basil in cold water, and gently pat it thoroughly dry with paper towels.
2. Put the basil, olive oil, pine nuts, chopped garlic, and an ample pinch of salt in the processor bowl, and process to a uniform, creamy consistency.
3. Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the two grated cheeses by hand. It is worth the slight effort to do it by hand to obtain the notably superior texture it produces. When the cheese has been evenly amalgamated with the other ingredients, mix in the softened butter, distributing it uniformly into the sauce.
4. When spooning the pesto over pasta, dilute it slightly with a tablespoon or two of the hot water in which the pasta was cooked.

Freezing Pesto

Make the sauce by the food processor method through to the end of Step 2, and freeze it without cheese and butter in it. Add the cheese and butter when it is thawed, just before using.

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