My neighbor Karen, the one who gave me okra that I in turn made into gumbo to share with her, sent back the bowl from the gumbo in the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch way, with food in it.
What she sent back was a wonderfully delicious and fragrant (many hours after being eaten too!) Pesto. I got it all to myself too since nobody here will any "green" sauce. Here's a basic recipe~if you've never had it, PLEASE give it a try!
Pesto
Makes about 1 cup
Printable Recipe
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup Olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
salt as needed
Place basil leaves in small batches in food processor and whip until well chopped (do about 3/4 cup at a time). Add about 1/3 the nuts and garlic, blend again.
Add about 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese; blend while slowly adding about 1/3 of the olive oil, stopping to scrape down sides of container.
Process basil pesto it forms a thick smooth paste. Repeat until all ingredients are used, mix all batches together well. Serve over pasta. Basil pesto keeps in refrigerator one week, or freeze for a few months.
The very next day she sent along several grains that she is no longer able to tolerate including Besan, aka gram flour, or chickpea flour. Just guess what one would use THAT for? FALAFEL! And, as we all know (see index) "I Love Falafel".
Hello Anne! You visited my blog, so now I'm visiting yours--and its great! (Also, I see from your profile we have some similar tastes in books and hobbies.)
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to try out some of your recipes. I can almost smell the pesto (which is really something, because my sense of smell has been somewhat diminished for years).