Lets talk about seasonal eating

Good afternoon, y'all! It is currently mid-July and the seasonal produce has been ABUNDANT! I don't know if you tend to a garden in your yard, whether its a porch planter project or whole acres. Recently I made the executive decision in our family that I would NOT be continuing with the large garden project. Keeping the garden weeded, watered, guarding against predators (think bunnies, chipmunks and larger like deer) and then preserving food beyond what we can eat in a few short servings, so that we may pull it out in the depths of the hellscape of the often times frigid winter and enjoy what we remembered life to be like in the summer is really no longer at the top of my priority list, if I am being honest. There was a time, not too long in the recent past, where that was my duty, and frankly much of my childhood consisted of tending to the garden and putting up food for the winter.

I just dont want to anymore and that is okay.

In light of renouncing my garden-tender duties, we signed up for a CSA share with one of our favorite local farmers. For 20 weeks, we can shop their seasonal freshly grown produce as well as purchase local poultry, pork, beef and lamb, along with honey and mushrooms.

One of my most favorite things I recently picked up from them was fresh basil. I had a jar full of pine nuts in the house, some extra basil growing outside that was prime and ready for use. I keep big bottles of lemon juice in the house as well as gallon jugs of oil - old kitchen habits die hard when you were a chef. I buy items in bulk when and where I can to avoid paying an exorbitant amount of money for a tiny amount of product. If you have the space, I recommend it. I took the simultaneous opportunity of current existence of all these items and made some fresh pesto.

Fresh pesto, fresh pasta, some sauteed spinach & a simple protein (pretty sure it was chicken) & this is a summer meal that slaps flavor right in your mouth. Unfortunately I did not take a photo of this deliciousness, but I plan to recreate it later today, as I have fresh basil to use up before it gets brown and weird.

I will link my recipe very soon, but in the interim here is the rough outline:

Ingredients:

roughly 2 cups of basil

1/2 to 3/4 c of olive oil

1/2 pine nuts, toasted ** (I talk about this below, its important)

2 - 5 cloves (not bulbs) of garlic - measure with your heart

salt, to taste

lemon juice, splash

Tools:

measuring cups

blender / food processor

small sauté pan / oven baking sheet

rubber spatula

wooden spoon

Process:

**Take a raw pine nut and chew it. Tastes like ass. Your pesto will too unless you toast the nuts. To a small saute pan, add the pine nuts and place over a low heat. There is no fat necessary for this. You will want to stir the nuts with your wooden spoon (or shake the pan gently like you do with popcorn). Expect to spend 5-15 minutes on this. As they begin to toast, they will have a nutty smell and begin to turn golden brown. Once they have the nutty smell and a darker color than you started with, pull them off of the heat. The process of toasting should not be rushed, as they are incredibly easy to burn. aka- don't do this on high heat, walk away or otherwise ignore the nuts in the oven. Burnt pine nuts also taste like charred ass. Just give them the attention they require. Once the pine nuts are toasted, remove them from their pan, transferring to a bowl or plate and let them cool a bit.

After you don't need eyes on the nuts & they are set to cool, get out your food processor & to the bowl with blade, add your garlic, basil & lemon juice. Pulse to puree, stirring once and adding in your pine nuts. Pulse, then blend to combine. It will be super thick paste by now. add a bit of salt. Put your lid back on and remove the middle cap, turn the machine on, and slowly stream in your olive oil. Let the oil combine slowly with the garlic basil paste and then once the consistency improves, increase your stream. (Meaning you can pour more, faster) Blend until well combined, then taste and adjust salt as necessary.

Couple of key notes:

You can do this with nearly any nut, another recommendation you'll see from other cooks & chefs is using walnuts. The flavor of your nut + the basil will have a different outcome than using pine nuts.

You can also add in your favorite parmesan cheese or keep it vegan by using nutritional yeast in its place.

If you toast your nuts in the oven, expect to be opening it up every minute, moving the nuts around on the pan.

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Let me know if you make this recipe & how it turns out for you.

I expect to be on here more often, sharing as much as I can, as often as I can.

This recipe is given for free from me to you. Thank you for reading.

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