I have a confession. Until this year, my basil crops have been pathetic. The plants, tenderly nestled in the garden in the spring, produce an embarrassingly small harvest. Sure, I have enough to cook with during the summer — to tear into fresh tomato sauce, to tuck into sandwiches, and to adorn a tomato and mozzarella salad — but I never have enough for pesto. This year is different. This year I have made pesto, and I know it will delight me all winter long.
I say this is a confession because nearly everyone I know grows basil without trouble. Green thumb or not, the leafy herb overtakes their gardens to the point that my neighbors, my sisters, and my friends grumble that they won’t “possibly be able to eat it all!” I go along with them, never admitting that my own basil plants barely grow higher than a flowerpot. I smile and nod — and then look forward to eating garden-grown pesto at my sister’s house during the cold months. Not mine.
This year, I planted the pesto is yet another spot in the garden. It rained and rained in the early part of the summer and the herb seemed to love the moisture. Before I knew it, I had big, healthy plants, bursting with aromatic green leaves. Pesto time!
The great thing about pesto is that a little goes a long way. I have frozen most of it in half-pint measures, about half of which is perfect for a large bowl of pasta. This way you have leftover pesto to indulge in for a few days. It’s great dolloped in soup, spread on sandwiches or (another confession) spread thickly on crackers and eaten over the kitchen sink.
