Pesto in the Garden

After a very hot weekend it was time for a very quick and simple dinner for me and my 3 hungry boys.  Pappa Bear got the BBQ going with home kill sausages while I chucked some pasta in a pot, bashed up some basil, parsley and pinenuts then grabbed lettuce, borage flowers and spring onion from the garden.

My window sill is under control and the pesto was delicious.  It would have much nicer with homemade pasta - but kneading pasta is not something I want to be doing when it's almost 27 degrees in the kitchen.

The breeze and evening sun in the garden was wonderful, so we ate alfresco with Emmy Lou and her chicks at our feet snaffling up anything our babies dropped.  Bliss.

Not the flashest meal, but when you're hungry and dinner only takes 20 minutes then it's perfect!

Pesto

Pinenuts
Olive Oil Fresh basil and parley
Parmesan (or just plain cheese like colby and a pinch of salt)

Put a drizzle of olive oil and a handful of pinenuts in a pan on medium heat.  Keep moving nuts around in the pan till they are nicely browned then remove from heat.   With mortar and pestle bash up four or five handfuls of basil/parley leaves till they almost form a paste.  Pour in the oil and pinenuts and stir to break them up (or totally pulverize them if you like your pesto smooth).  Lastly, stir in some grated Parmesan.  I didn't have any Parmesan in the fridge, so I just used Colby and added a good pinch of salt - all good.  Serve with bread, on pizza, stir trough pasta like we did with a little more extra virgin olive oil - there's loads of uses for it.