After my mom's basil started growing like crazy, she recently gifted me with bunches and bunches of basil!
I knew that we wouldn't be able to eat them fast enough so I decided to make some easy pesto to freeze for future use.
I threw the rinsed basil in the food processor with the stems on. I didn't really take measurements of the ingredients but just added olive oil, garlic cloves, Parmesan cheese, shelled walnuts, salt and pepper to taste.
I pureed until I was left with a beautiful, vibrant pesto.
I split the pesto into two plastic containers.
I drizzled some extra olive oil on top of the pesto. I also put some plastic wrap on top of the pesto to help seal it from the air.
The pesto went straight to our freezer and will be ready for use long after the summer is over. For me, it is a great way to keep these great summer flavors alive all year long.
Tell me, what do you do to preserve your favorite summer ingredients for the rest of the year?
14 comments:
Love pesto. I also freeze pesto. Great post.
Yum, yum, YUM! I told PB that we're going to have to invest in a new food processor this weekend so I can copy you and make loads of pesto to freeze. My little basil plant is surprisingly HUGE! Who knew basil would be easy to grow?!
Oh, I love pesto, too! Our basil crop is lousy due to the drought...hope I can at least make a small batch :)
I like to puree basil all by itself and freeze into cubes. We also sometimes freeze fresh blueberries and peaches.
We do the same thing with our bounties of basil (it's pretty much the only thing that I can get to grow in our garden on a consistent basis lol) - except we freeze ours in ice cube trays for portioning out as sauce for noodles throughout the winter =)
smart idea to freeze the pesto!!! nothing is better than fresh basil!
I could use some gardening tips from your mom - her garden appears to be thriving! I'm sure you'll be psyched you did this when your dying for something to toss with pasta in a few months!
Love pesto! I always have some freezer fresh pesto on hand :)
I don't freeze too many things (except sweets) but I really should! Maybe I'll try freezing pesto or marinara sauce :)
I never think to make pesto because I think I'm allergic to pine nuts, but I could make this!
I'm also a fan of freezing the blueberries and peaches. A couple of years ago we did a CSA and picked over 100 ears of corn, shucked them all, put them in freezer bags and froze them to use all year... and then the ice storm hit and we lost our power and all the corn!
I love freezing pesto for future use! I also love freezing fresh summer fruit, like blueberries, to have over the next month or two.
We make pesto for the freezer too. It's the best thing to do with a overage of fresh basil. You will be so happy this December when you start craving basil again, haha.
I do exactly the same thing! I also want to start scraping corn off the cob and putting it in freezer bags, so we'll have sweet, summer corn throughout the fall and winter.
I also freeze pesto, in addition to slow-roasted tomatoes, tomato sauce, roasted red peppers, corn kernels, and grated zucchini. All of those do pretty well in the freezer for a while.
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