Pesto Party

Ok, I lied.

Remember back in July of last year when I said to use "a jar of pesto" in the orzo salad recipe? Well, I never use jarred pesto. I should have mentioned this then, but I was lazy and didn't feel like also including a pesto recipe. I doubt it matters because no one has actually used that orzo salad recipe anyway. But I would like to address this pesto thing.

Pesto is great, but pesto from a jar is not great. Fresh pesto is the only way to go and making your own means that it will be cheap as well. You really can't find large quantities of fresh basil at any other time of the year than the summer and the summer is coming to an end. So make pesto now. And make a lot of it, put it in ice cube trays, freeze it and then you have pesto to last the entire winter. That's what I did yesterday. It's also what I did at this time last year, and we just finished the last of our pesto a couple of weeks ago.

The New York Times had an article about this last week which included a recipe. You'll want to multiply the actual recipe many fold to get enough pesto to freeze for the winter. I bought 2 pounds of basil, so without the stems it probably yielded 1 lb/16 ounces of basil. I didn't use nearly as much oil as it calls for in the recipe. I probably only dumped about a cup or so in the food processor.

The most important part of this process is finding lots of basil on the cheap. I would look for ethnic grocery stores which also sell produce. The basil is out there you just have to find it, but stay away from the supermarkets which charge $2.50 for a little bunch in a tidy plastic container.

Banana Nut Muffins

Grand Reopenning? I wouldn't go that far, Dan. But I do have some recipes and comments and original photography I'd like to share. And that should be good enough.


Whenever I buy bananas I always two or three really ripe ones leftover at the end of the week. Best thing to do with these are make banana bread or banana nut muffins. This muffin recipe is my grandmother's and I really like the lightness the yogurt and baking soda give the muffins (in lieu of more fat).


Banana Nut Muffins

Makes 12 small muffins

Materials:

1 small muffin pan

1/2 C yogurt
1 t baking soda
2 T butter
2 C flour - any combination - all-purpose, wheat, corn, oatmeal, etc.
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 C sugar
2 bananas, mushed up
1/2 C nuts - walnuts, pecan, or any nuts to your liking
some other stuff - cinnamon, nutmeg, honey, etc.

Preheat over to 400 degrees.

Put yogurt in bowl and add baking soda. Let this sit and rise, about 10 minutes. Melt butter and let cool. Mix the dry ingredients (flour and baking powder). Mix the wet ingredients: whisk the eggs while adding the butter slowly, and the sugar, bananas, yogurt, and vanilla. Add the wets to drys. Mix and add the nuts and a teaspoon or so of your spice selection.

Bake for ~25 min. Keep an eye on them after 20.