As I've been saying for months, I'm completely inspired by Barbara Kingsolver's book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. With her in mind, I've been buying up local produce this summer and freezing it for the winter months. In addition to freezing berries, I wanted to make some pesto and a great tomato soup. I checked pesto off my list making a batch last weekend and yesterday. Tomato soup from a recent post on Mixed Greens is on deck for today.
Pesto is a great thing to have on hand when you need a quick or last minute dinner. Toss with some noodles on it's own or spruce it up with some half & half, an egg and asiago cheese for a quick pasta dinner. It's good hot or cold and can be used on pasta, paninis, pizza and more.
.I bought tons of fresh basil at the market and once I took the leaves off the stems, it took about two seconds to make pesto. I always love Ina's recipe for pesto but I wanted to get a range of ideas so I pulled pesto recipes from some favorite resources - Ina, Giada, Martha, Epicurious, and 101 Cookbooks - and then made up my own version. My friend Amy tipped me off that parmesan doesn't freeze well. Some recipes online for freezing pesto include parmesan but several don't so I went the safe route. Once you thaw the pesto, stir in freshly grated parmesan before using.
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I froze my pesto in little jars because I can easily go through that amount in a few days once I thaw it. You can also use ice cube trays or freezer trays (also great for baby food) and then pop out the cubes and throw into freezer safe Ziploc bags. That allows you to thaw a small amount at a time.
Pesto is great to have on hand for these recipes and more:
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