Viva Pesto - Mix and Match Ingredients for Non-Traditional Pesto

Probably one of the most popular herb dishes out there is pesto. I started making pesto after I began planting herbs in my garden. Even though I was cooking with them - they were multiplying in my garden so quickly that I didn't know what to do with them so I stumbled into making pesto. This led to a few problems though. First, I didn't always have the ingredients I needed to make a traditional pesto, (How many people reaaaaaly keep pine nuts in stock at all times?) Secondly - not that I had all this pesto, what was I supposed to do with it?

First I started with a basic pesto recipe. The trick is you can mix up and switch out nearly any of these ingredients. It's as easy as picking an ingredient from each column. Bonus ingredients are optional.

Here's a couple of match-ups I made recently.

Pecan Romano Basil Pesto

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup basil

1/4 cup pecans

1/4 cup Romano cheese

1 small clove garlic

Start by adding the nuts and cheese to the blender and grinding up well. You can add all your ingredients at once, but I find if I do this I don't get the find ground on my nuts and cheese that I want. Add garlic and blend. Add basil and begin blending - drizzle in olive oil until pesto blends smoothly at your desired texture (about 1/4 cup).

Purple Basil Almond Pesto

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup purple basil

1/4 cup almonds

1/4 cup Romano cheese

Purple basil is one of my favorites - it adds such fabulous color to my garden and my food!

Start by blending the almonds and Romano. Add basil and begin blending - drizzle in olive oil until pesto blends smoothly at your desired texture (about 1/4 cup).

Personally I love pesto so much that I'll eat it plain over pasta or spread on crackers, but you can also try some of these ideas:

Pesto Mayo - just mix pesto into plain mayonnaise for a great sandwich spread

Cold Pesto Pasta Salad - mix in with a bit of mayo and your favorite pasta, chill and serve

Pesto Grilled Cheese - spread fresh bread with pesto, add your favorite cheese and grill

Pesto Salad Dressing - add vinegar and additional olive oil - whisk and serve

Pesto can also be frozen for later use. Most folks I know that freeze pesto use ice cube trays. Once frozen, pop out the cubes and place them in a Ziploc Freezer bag to use later.

So get out there - pick some basil (or parsley, or oregano or...) and enjoy!

A Week of Bounty - and the easiest way to freeze corn.

Our freezer runneth over this week! Last week, we went to pick up our fresh pig from the butcher. Good friends of ours purchased a pig and were willing to split with us. My freezer is packed full of meat as well as the pork fat (which the hubby and his friend will use for venison sausage during deer season!) I see a lot of pork chops in our future.

Among our pork treasures is fresh bacon. The hubby put a nice batch of this right in the smoker - we can't wait to try it! I also got some nice ham slabs which I can't wait to try curing. If anyone has any tips for a first time ham curer let me know!

Several friends have asked me how I store meat in the freezer. To me purchasing meat is a big investment into future meals from my family - I don't want to leave anything to chance or freezer burn. I'm normally not a brand conscious person, but I wrap my meat in freezer paper and then store in Ziploc brand freezer bags. I haven't had as much luck as any other brand. Using this method, I typically can even get several extra months for anything that I freeze without sacrificing quality.

If the pork wasn't enough, our good friends also came into 12 dozens of free corn from a neighbor farmer who was about to toss it.

Our friends had never preserved corn before so I was happy to have them over and show them the easy method for freezing corn I grew up with. I can remember growing up - my father, a dairy farmer who always planted plenty of sweet corn in the summer - bringing home at least a dozen ears every night for dinner when corn was in season. My mom would boil them all up and anything not eaten at dinner would get processed and frozen. By the end of corn season we always had enough corn frozen up to enjoy through the whole winter!

I always start my corn by husking and getting off as much of the "hair" as possible. The husked ears go into a clean sink full of cold water. This helps get any remaining tassel off the corn.

On the stove bring a large pot of water to a boil. Adding the corn - a half dozen ears or so  at a time - and blanch in the boiling water for about 6 minutes. Transfer the corn to a sink or clean plastic tub full of cold water. Once cool enough to handle, cut the corn away from the cob.

Scoop the corn into plastic bags in whatever serving size your family will normally use for 1 dinner. Freeze for up to 6 months.

When ready to serve warm on the stove top or in the microwave with a bit of butter and salt.

Now if only I could decide what to make for dinner tomorrow - pork chops and corn anyone?

Garden Abundance - Putting Up Green Beans

Plant a packet of green bean seeds in your vegetable garden and pretty soon you'll have more green beans that you can imagine doing anything with. I absolutely love home canned green beans which I contend make the absoluate  best green bean casserole. Unfortanately, I haven't gotten around to getting a pressure canner and while my mom and grandma have been water bath canning beans for years and years will not ill effects, I am squeamish about taking that risk myself.

Fortanately for me, freezing green beans is extremely easy to do. The act of processing the bean and preparing for preserving can be a little time consuming, but it does provide a good excuse to hide out inside watching a cheesy movie while cutting up your beans!

 

As you can see, I started with a big flat of green beans. One frugal tip for gardeners... save all those containers your plants come in from the greenhouse. The double as great storage when harvesting your garden! I love the flower flats because their builtin holds make it extremely easy to rinse off your veggies with the garden hose outside and let all the water drain out.

 

Once picked, the beans need to be processed. I remember growing up my brother and I would help our mom and grandma "snap" off the ends of beans with our fingers. These days, I use a paring knife to cut off the ends and cut the beans into smaller pieces. I cut mine directly into a strainer which makes it easy to rise the beans after cutting.

 

Fill a large pot with water and bring to boiling on the stove. Drop in your beans in small batches and allow to blanch in the water for about 3 minutes. Fill a clean sink bason with cold water. Using a slotted spoon, transfer your beans from the boiling water to your cold water to stop the cooking. I have a large, slighly curved metal fryer scoop that I think works perfectly for this purpose - allowing you to scoop up lots of beans at once. Repeat until all of the beans are blanched. You will likely need to add more cold water (or a bit of ice) to your cold water bath as you go. 

 

Transfer your beans to a towel covered cookie sheet one layer thick to allow to dry fully. This is an important step - if you don't do this you'll get a big frozen clump of beans. Transfer your beans to good quality freezer bags and place in your freezer.

 

Pull your beans out of the freezer any time you need a quick side dish or to add to soups and casseoles.