Love, hate, basil, pesto.....

I have a love/hate relationship with fresh basil.  Who doesn't love fresh basil, the color, the smell, the possibilities?  But how can you not hate it when, after two days, it goes limp and black and looks like something from "The Exorcist?"  Something that turns into slime in front of your eyes?  You pay good money for it and no matter how you store it, gently wrapped in nicely dampened paper towels or stored in a glass of water or just tossed meanly in the back of the vegetable bin, it dies.  Overnight.  Quickly and grossly.

I bought a gorgeous bunch of basil the other day, used a handful of leaves that same night and left the rest of it wrapped in tiny angel wings overnight in the fridge. When I got home from work that next afternoon, those tiny angel wings were turning into devil scales..... I could see the coming of the black and slime.  So I did what any self-respecting Italian American cook would do:  turned it into pesto. 

Out came the very old Cuisinart.  In went the basil, some salt, one mushed up garlic clove and .... wait!  Who springs for pine nuts these days at an outrageous amount per pound?  I had some toasted marcona almonds, figured they would be fine and they were!  Some really nice olive oil, a bit of parmesan cheese, and Presto!  Pesto!  It is possibly the best pesto I have ever made, partly because of the almonds, partly because of the small amount of garlic and partly because I left it a little chunky.  Not a lot, but not totally smooth either.

I tossed it on hot pasta.  Excellent.  I stirred some into sauteed chicken with mushrooms and onions. Delicious.  I spread a little on some flatbread, then topped it with fresh tomatoes. Awesomely delicious.  And on and on. With some burrata, with some parmesan, with anything.  I intend to get more basil and make more pesto and freeze it for the winter. Stirred into soup or again into pasta, it's a hit of summer all year long.  

OK, off to bed....  there is a group at the hotel that is going to be problematic in the morning.  Part of me relishes the conflict, the chance to say to people who feel entitled "No, I am sorry, we cannot do that."  Just because you want something doesn't mean you are going to get it.

As the Stones once said: You can't alway get what you want..... but if you try, sometimes you get what you need.

over and out.