BAKING

PEST of a PESTO… but then onto PASTA! ‘PUTTING UP’!!

2008/05/04 / 30 Comments
“How could such sweet and wholesome hours
Be reckoned but with herbs and flowers?”
Andrew Marvel

IMG 8708

Basil Almond Pesto…

Snip,snip,snip…all I could hear out in the garden was snip, snip, snip. Sunday morning, me lazing in the study with my cuppa cold milk…one day I like to steer clear of the kitchen in the morning. The snipping didn’t seem to end & I got suspicious. Stepped out to find the gardener trimming away my beloved basil bushes to pretty shapes…I almost passed out! There, lying all around, were bunches of my precious basil! He felt it had overgrown too much & decided it was time to clean it up; for him it was just another part of the overgrown hedge!IMG 8657Leaves galore…

Grrrrrrrrrr…& that’s how Sunday morning began. I made him bag the leaves & then got them in & set to work. In temperatures as high as we have here, leaves wilt in next to no time. The only good thing was that I was coerced into doing something I had been procrastinating about for far too long…I had finished my last jar a while ago.
collage2Convenience reigns supreme; if the pesto is on hand,
then can pasta be far behind?
Ingredients:

Sweet basil – 2 cups approximately
Almonds – 1/2 cup , with skins
Garlic – 4-5 cloves
Olive oil – 1/2 cup
Freshly ground peppercollage

Leafing through pesto…

Method:
  • Grind the almonds with skins in the food processor in short pulses.
  • Add the garlic, pulse. Add the basil leaves & pulse again till they are all shredded well.
  • Now continue to pulse while slowly pouring in the olive oil till it comes together. Add some freshly ground pepper, mix well & bottle. Refrigerate. Makes 2 small jars.

IMG 8718

IMG 8993And then came the pasta in a pesto cream sauce…
Ingredients:

Fussili – 250 gms
Garlic – 3 cloves
Cream – 200ml
Cheese – 50 gms / grated
Pesto – 2 heaped tbsps
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper
Method:
  • Boil the pasta until al dente.
  • Meanwhile, heat some olive oil in a pan. Ad the garlic & saute for a minute or so. Add the cream + cheese & simmer till it comes to a boil & the cheese melts.
  • Add the pesto + salt + pepper to taste.
  • Once the pasta is done, add to the pesto cream sauce & mix through. Serve with fresh grated Parmesan shavings.
  • I served this with a tomato-cottage cheese-basil salad, grilled chicken & oven roasted garlic potatoes.

collage

The chicken was marinated in a lovely flavoursome marinade I got off from Amy @ Familia Bencomo…’Marinata Diavola‘; I didn’t have the rosemary but made it nevertheless. Fabulous fabulous results! Do head over to her place & check out the original HERE!!

collage1 puttingup

My jar of pesto, virtually, is on it’s way to PUTTING UP, an interesting blogevent hosted jointly by Pixie @ You Say Tomahto, I Say Tomayto, & Rosie @ Rosie Bakes a Peace of Cake. They are 2 of my favourite UK bloggers & are very busy in their spot of the globe! Rosie was one of the first bloggers I got to know when I began blogging, & she’s gone from strength to strength since! The focus of this event are the Jams & Preserves. I checked with Pixie, & she confirmed that pesto qualifies. Thanks Arundhati for your suggestion…I’m on my way!!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

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30 Comments

  • Cakelaw

    2008/05/04 at 10:42 am Reply

    I am very worried about your gardener if he can’t distinguish basil from the hedge! I love the sound of the pesto – delicious!

  • familiabencomo

    2008/05/04 at 12:22 pm Reply

    I would have passed out if MY gardener had done that. However, my gardener (i.e. Alfredo) knows better – he does everything in his power to keep me happy (he, he!).

    So, this was a mixed blessing then. Now you have beautiful, fresh pesto. How I envy you! Marie, The Proud Italian, has a post where she uses her pesto on grilled shrimp & it’s good on chicken too. So, now I use my pesto mostly with shrimp.

    OK, I have to get some rosemary to you. I have some friends here who will be flying to India for the summer. I’ll see what I can do. I’m glad you liked the marinade. I made your pepper & garlic pasta earlier this week, but have yet to post it (bad girl). The family LOVED it. I was nervous because they are not fans of peppers, but I did what any good mother would do – I lied & said it was a sweet fruit.

    Well, it’s obvious that it has been too long since I’ve touched base with you…. I’m taking all of your comment space!

    Tanti baci, my friend,
    Amy

  • Manggy

    2008/05/04 at 2:37 pm Reply

    Well, your gardener had the right idea.. Had he not trimmed the basil plant, the individual branches would have grown too long and obtrusive.. It’s better to prune it to encourage dense, bushy growth 🙂
    I loooove pesto… It’s just the nuts that prohibit me from making it too often! Too expensive! 🙂

  • TBC

    2008/05/04 at 2:41 pm Reply

    I love pesto! Basil has such a wonderful fragrance.
    That’s a nice touch- almonds instead of the traditional pine nuts.

  • Passionate baker...& beyond

    2008/05/04 at 3:59 pm Reply

    Thanks Purnima…& also for the award. Good to see you back in action!
    Hiya Cakelaw..even the gardner is a worried man these days!! He can’t quite understand what the fuss was about @#$@#$!!
    Pesto on chicken sounds great; I’d better head for Marie’s before the jar finishes. And yes, bad girl, better hurry up & post that yummy sounding pasta.
    Thanks Diva & TBC…this pesto was nice. I usually make it with almonds, sometimes even walnuts coz pine nuts are a bit steep here.
    Oooooooooooh Manggy, a Doc in the guise of a gardener who is a cook!! Are you accomplished or what? I think you better start eating nuts…who I am to tell a doc the benefits!! Waiting for an answer to a mango parfait???

  • Passionate baker...& beyond

    2008/05/04 at 3:59 pm Reply

    Thanks Purnima…& also for the award. Good to see you back in action!
    Hiya Cakelaw..even the gardner is a worried man these days!! He can’t quite understand what the fuss was about @#$@#$!!
    Pesto on chicken sounds great; I’d better head for Marie’s before the jar finishes. And yes, bad girl, better hurry up & post that yummy sounding pasta.
    Thanks Diva & TBC…this pesto was nice. I usually make it with almonds, sometimes even walnuts coz pine nuts are a bit steep here.
    Oooooooooooh Manggy, a Doc in the guise of a gardener who is a cook!! Are you accomplished or what? I think you better start eating nuts…who I am to tell a doc the benefits!! Waiting for an answer to a mango parfait???

  • bee

    2008/05/04 at 4:31 pm Reply

    lol @ your over-zealous gardener. it’s too cold to take our basil pots outside here. you pesto looks yum. we usually add lime and s=cumin too.

  • Arundathi

    2008/05/04 at 5:26 pm Reply

    lol – i guess it was his way of telling you to get on with making the pesto! 🙂
    looks delicious – i always end up experimenting with the greens but never subbed the pinenuts. good idea!

  • Nina's Kitchen (Nina Timm)

    2008/05/04 at 6:13 pm Reply

    My daughter is 7 and it is always her job to make the pesto, so I will show her this post when she wakes tomorrow morning. She will be delighted!!!

  • by MAG

    2008/05/05 at 4:02 am Reply

    I love your blog, very good recipes. Pesto is one of my favorites, I use pine nuts usually but I’m gonna try it with almonds, looks very delicious!

  • Miri

    2008/05/05 at 6:34 am Reply

    What a coincidence (no no, I dont have a basil plant, let alone a garden, for someone to prune! LOL!) It jus made some pesto with coriander and walnut and tossed it with some pasta for a really delicious meal! 🙂

    The basil pesto and pasta looks delicious!

  • Asha

    2008/05/05 at 1:09 pm Reply

    Love Pesto Pasta Deeba. Y’day I found a bottle of pesto in my fridge, got to use it!:)
    Great entry.

  • Andrew

    2008/05/05 at 1:26 pm Reply

    That is pretty hilarious, but pesto is delicious, so at least something good came out of it.

  • Susan

    2008/05/05 at 7:55 pm Reply

    Nice tweaking of the classic pesto, Deeba. Almonds must add a little natural sweetness. Can’t wait for the local basil to flourish.

  • Nandita

    2008/05/06 at 9:29 am Reply

    Haha, so the precious basil was salvaged 🙂 and put to some excellent use…I have a bottle of Simply Organic Poppy seeds 🙂 want to use up the poppy seeds so that i can reuse the cute bottle…pesto pasta is my all time fav pasta dish 🙂 If i were your neighbour, I’d have loved to take some of the basil from u!

  • Pixie

    2008/05/09 at 3:15 pm Reply

    Hi Deeba,

    Just wanted to let you know that pesto would gladly be accepted for the putting up event. Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughtful kind words.

  • Rosie

    2008/05/12 at 3:08 pm Reply

    WOW Deeba, I really love the sound and look of your pesto!! Many thanks for taking part in the event 😀

    Rosie x

  • Pearlsofeast

    2008/05/14 at 5:14 am Reply

    Deeba,I was waiting to comment this only after making it. I made it,was utter delicious!!!!!!!.
    I used to make it with pinenuts but almonds tasted more nuttier.Good job dear.

    By the way ur mango ice cream has tempted me too !!!!

  • Pixie

    2008/05/23 at 2:57 pm Reply

    Hi Deeba,

    Thanks again for taking part of the event, the round-up is now up and running!

    Pixie

Thank you so much for stopping by. I'd love to hear from you.

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