PESTO

Ingredients:
 

2 heaping Tablespoons dried Sweet Basil

2 heaping Tablespoons Parmesan Cheese freshly grated

3 large cloves garlic finely minced

4 Walnut halves chopped medium-fine

4 ounces Extra Virgin Olive Oil
 

Stir all ingredients thoroughly and place in refrigerator overnight.  It can be consumed immediately, but is much better the next day.
 

Hints:
 

Basil - I grow my own Sweet Basil and, in this application, I honestly cannot tell much difference between my fresh and the store bought dried. What with planting, growing, watering, fighting the white flies, picking, sorting, chopping, drying and storing, I find it much easier to go to the market and pay $ 2.89 for a 5 ounce container that will last me for 3 months.  I usually garnish my place setting with fresh basil and during the meal I will tear the leaves into smaller pieces and distribute those pieces over the food.

Parmesan - Please use fresh grated Parmesan. I have tried the store bought stuff in the green can and I honestly can tell the difference.
 

Garlic - Please take the time to peel and mince fresh garlic. If you own one of those plier-type garlic press gadgets, get rid of it.  Be environmentally sound and recycle it. If you are going to feed this Pesto to your in-laws, it's all right to use the powdered garlic. But, if you are going to eat it yourself, use fresh.
 

Walnuts - A real Pesto recipe calls for Pine Nuts. However, they are hard to find and incredibly difficult to shell. If you are going to purchase Pine Nuts already shelled, be prepared to pay around $ 19.00 per pound. A Cadillac is much cheaper. Almost every kitchen has Walnuts in their baking supplies and, probably because I'm used to it, I prefer the taste and texture of Walnuts.
 

Olive Oil - Please do not attempt to substitute the Olive Oil. Other oils will not work and will render your meal inedible. While corn, peanut, canola, sesame and other oils have their very important uses, this is not one of them.
 

Should this recipe render the Pesto too viscous or too thin, simply add more Oil or more Basil and Parmesan until you arrive at your desired consistency.   I enjoy Pesto on linguine, sea shell pasta, bow tie pasta, Italian or French bread and toast.

David  08/06/99