Trials and Tribulations … of Basil
Nothing says summer like fresh vegetables and herbs from your garden.
Unfortunately, that is not the case for our garden this year.
The frost and heat and flooding seriously affected our plants’ abilities to germinate, let alone, to grow. On top of that, we have come to realize how much maintenance our plot needs from us to have any success. Travelling, visitors, schoolwork and work have kept us overly busy and thus we have neglected our plot.
It was like a kick in the gut when we visited the plot the other weekend. Overtaken by weeds, our few surviving plants were not very happy. The community gardens we belong to post notices if your garden falls well below the standards they set. Ours was there. But thankfully, we had a week to clean it up before the notes would be posted (posted on a monthly basis).
Robb and I spend hours weeding, spreading mulch and planting seeds. Our garden consists of only a few vegetable plants but hopefully we will reap the benefits.
Moving on. (This was my intro to our pesto pasta dinner).
We began with five basil plants. One of which we brought home so that we may have fresh basil daily. This plant died. Out of the other four plants in the garden, we had one surviver. Hurrah! But still, it was so tiny it wouldn’t produce enough for even a teaspoon of pesto. Yet, we had a craving for that nutty basil dish.
My standby recipe for pesto is from The Joy of Cooking.
In a food processor blend together into small particles:
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup parmesan
2 cups basil, loosely packed
1/3 cup pine nutsSlowly add:
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Almonds, walnuts, or hazelnuts may be substituted for pine nuts. These can also be toasted for an alternative flavour. Spinach can also replace part of the basil to enhance the flavor. Possibilities are endless.
We added the pesto to a pot of linguine pasta and garnished with shrimp!*
There is no better way to enjoy this meal than on the couch watching Ghost Hunters. (We watched the House of Spirits episode.) Well, perhaps there is. But we don’t have a patio. And our apartment overlooks a busy road. Some day.
*I am sorry we don’t have any photographs. We ate everything too quickly!
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