Are you growing basil?  Is it going crazy right about now?  Our basil is growing like gang busters! The other day I asked Mr. Native Texan to pick some basil for a canning recipe, but I neglected to specify the amount.  Oops.

You know what happened, right?  He brought me enough basil to last for weeks.  Weeks!

So I made pesto.  Six batches of it, actually, with plenty of basil leftover (don’t worry).

Nut-Free Pesto

The amounts listed below are just a guideline; I don’t actually measure the ingredients.  It’s a very forgiving recipe and probably turns out a bit different each time.

Feel free to increase this recipe to suit your purposes–you can fit a lot of basil leaves in one food processor! 

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Ingredients

• 1 cup basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese*
• Unrefined sea salt
• Ground black pepper
• 2-3 TB olive oil

*I chose to save a bit of money by purchasing a wedge of Parmesan, since I  knew my food processor could do the chopping.  It’s a hard cheese, though, so I broke it into small pieces before tossing it into the processor.

Instructions

1. In a food processor, pulse all ingredients except oil.
2. When the mixture is smooth, slowly add the oil while continuing to pulse.
3. And that’s it!  Presto, pesto.  Har har.

Storage

• Store pesto in the fridge for a few days.
• Or freeze it in ice cube trays, and then pop out the cubes into a container or bag for long term storage in the freezer.  Then you can enjoy summer-fresh pesto in the middle of winter!

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 Ways to Use Pesto

We love to use pesto as a marinade for chicken, and of course on pasta (ours is gluten-free rice pasta).

For more ideas, check out these lists:

• The Food Network’s 50 Things to Make with Pesto
• The Yummy Life’s 25 Best Recipes with Pesto
• About.com’s Top Five Ways to Use Pesto

Remember:

• ALL Yankee Homestead Recipes are gluten-free.
• MANY recipes are also sugar-free, dairy-free, egg-free and soy-free.
• MANY recipes are paleo, as well.

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