Spoils from the garden

Last night we had our first spoils from this years garden.

We had some pesto, made with basil from our prolific bushes and some Chicken Scaloppini with Sage from our lone sage plant.

I love the smell of fresh Pesto .. don't you? To me it fills the dinner plate with that deep rich scent of green. It makes the tummy grumble and ask for "more NOW!". I always cheat and put a bit on some bread as I am finishing up the meal, just to quiet that inner daemon that makes me want to keep it all to myself.

The Pesto was so easy and so fresh that I could probably have just had pasta and pesto if the Scaloppini didn't smell so good.

To make the pesto is easy, everyone knows how to do that right?

FRESH PESTO -

• 2 big handfuls of Basil (ours are Sweet and Genovese)


• 1/2 cup olive oil


• 1/4 teaspoon salt


• Pepper to taste


• 1/4 cup nuts (I use roasted sunflowers this time)

Wash the freshly picked Basil and lightly shake the water off (its ok for them to have a bit of moisture).
Pull out the stems and put them in your compost bucket.
Stuff them in your food processor and pulse until ground.
Add your salt and pepper, begin to pulse again and gently pour in your Olive Oil.
Finally add your nuts and pulse once or twice to break them up (don't grind the nut to a paste)

Voila! Now open the top of your machine. Smells good doesn't it?

Many people add Parmesian or Romano cheese to their pesto, I prefer to add the cheese at the plate.
The pesto mixes better without the cheese and helps coat all the pasta.

When I drain the pasta, I always pour a bit of Olive Oil over the top to help stop sticking. To me, this also helps add a 'base' flavor for the pasta, the oil and the salt. (Salt ... from the water, you do add enough salt right? Add salt to the water, and you won't have to add as much to the final meal.)

Cub loved it so much he had second helpings of the pasta. And even Thumper ate some (one strand at a time).