Pesto - Basil, Coriander

The vege garden is starting to produce the goods now, so this morning I made a litre of Basil Pesto and about half a litre of Coriander Pesto. Put it into ice cube trays (25ml per) and into the freezer. When they're frozen I'll vac pack them into bags for ready access.

The Coriander keeps for a week or so once defrosted, and so could really be in my usual 200ml jars, but Basil starts to oxidise almost immediately - hence the smaller 25ml quantities needed to use as required.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...7&d=1487291917

There a dozens more of each plant coming along so I should be able to make a year's supply, which is the goal.

Next Coriander:
https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...1&d=1487291581

Next Basil (2-3 weeks?), and a bed of seeds not germinated yet:
https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...2&d=1487291590

https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...3&d=1487291599

I had to go up to the Green Grocer to get some limes and saw that they had Basil plants selling in pots for $3, and the bunches (tiny - 100 grams including stalks) were $4 each still, even though the season is peaking. That means I pulled up about $30 of Basil and $20 of Coriander.

The recipe that I use is as follows:
500-600 grams of Basil or Coriander (free, more or less)
25g Garlic ($1?)
180g Parmesan (best quality) ($6)
160g Cashews (Pine nuts are out of control expensive at $70/kg!) ($3)
150ml fresh squeezed Lime Juice ($2)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil to suit (maybe 150mls). ($1?)

So $13 for a litre is pretty good. Not sure what the Supermarket cost would be, but I imagine around $30-40 per litre, and the ingredients wouldn't be as good quality, and certainly not as fresh.

Everything except the oil into the food processor, and then pour in enough oil gradually to make the right consistency. Easy as anything.

If you've never tried Coriander Pesto then I highly recommend it. :2tsup:

I started cropping the entire Basil plants (you can see dark patches at the back of the mulch), but then I thought I'd just take the leaves of a decent size and leave the rest to see how they go.

https://www.woodworkforums.com/attach...4&d=1487291611

If I'd pulled them all up I might have added perhaps 150g to the 500g I had, but now I might get about 250-300g out of them. Wait and see.

I love the conventional basil pesto - must give the coriander one a whirl. Thanks.

I'm sure your fully aware of this, but be careful when they go to seed. Unless you want Basil popping up everywhere. We planted some 4 years ago and we still get random plants popping up in different pots and garden beds each year. Is always a nice surprise to see where it will come up next.

Brett
Pine nuts are $42 kilo from the supplier we go to at Auburn, let me know if you want their name & address.

JohnQ

Ah, thanks John. Ya know, I'm not too sure that I'd notice any difference between them and Cashews in a Pesto context, but I do know that Auburn (and Lakemba et al) is the place to go for nuts. Used to buy Cashews in Auburn for $14 per kg when they were $25+ elsewhere.

I've got 500g of Pine Nuts vac packed from 8 years ago and I'll open them tomorrow to see what they are like (they look good). I'll be cropping another litre's worth of Basil to make the next round of Pesto. Other produce I bought back then (subsequently vac packed) has been first class, so we'll see.

Sounds like you went to Harkola, I first went to their Lidcombe store around 1980. Cashews now $19 & peanuts $6.

Not sure who, but I know where. I was driving south out of the main Auburn shopping centre, and saw them on the right (western side) about ½k down, so dropped in. Looking at Gmaps I'd say in Park Rd, somewhere near Helena St. There was also another place further south on the east side near Chiswick Rd.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by JohnQ

Cashews now $19 & peanuts $6.

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I just bought some at Coles - 800g for $16, but nowhere near the quality.....

I haven't had any Kri Kri for far too long!

They are at 3-7 Highgate St, best to entry from Hampstead Rd though.

Well a few days ago I pulled up some of the older Basil plants and made another litre of pesto, and so I decided to investigate these 8½ year old pine nuts that I vac packed back in 2008. Bugger me if they weren't in good nick! Not even stale tasting, somehow. I had to pull out perhaps 2-3% of them that were no good, but the rest toasted up just fine. Unbelievable but true.

The pressure of the vac pack had squeezed out a reasonable amount of oil which lined the bag.

Today I cropped 1.3kg of Coriander (all usable, and about $60 worth at Woolies) which made no less than 3 litres of Pesto. Think we'll be right for CP for a while, although the plants will sprout plenty more new foliage in the next couple of weeks.

Yet another round of Basil tomorrow, and the last bed is coming along too. (yep, we like Pesto around here :D) I think the tally so far is 3.5 lt of CP and 3 lt of BP, all frozen in various sizes from 25ml, 70ml, 200ml. Probably 1.5 to 3 lt of BP to come. So far I've used about 1kg of Parmesan!

Your fortunate to still be growing basil, the cold wiped ours out a month or so back, although coriander does grow all winter down here. If your over run with coriander Google "Persian Omelette". Our daughter was recently invited for lunch by an Iranian girl and she cooked one. Heaps of herbs, coriander, mint, parsley etc with just enough egg to bind it together.

2017 thread resurrected by a dubious poster.