Pesto

In all the years I have been  gardening, I have never had a vegetable garden, either here or back east. I don't grow tomatoes or zucchini and I've never had room for squash or corn. It always seemed like too much trouble, given the fabulous reliable offerings at farmer's markets and my neighbor's bounty shared from their gardens every summer.

But I do grow rosemary for my cocktails and an occasional potato dish, and I grow one culinary herb for my table: I plant a single basil plant each year. I get one at Home Depot.

By mid July my one basil plant tucked in among pansies growing in a big bowl gives me two cups of leaves for pesto. After harvest it re-grows and I get a second batch.

I chop the leaves off, whirl them in my mini-processor with pine nuts (I toast the pine nuts first) and parmesan and olive oil. It's that simple. 

This year I found a pesto recipe that folds a quarter cup of mayonnaise in, and that has made a big difference -- the pesto is thicker and more spreadable. And just as fragrantly heady.

I spread pesto on my turkey sandwiches for lunch. I've used it in recipes -- one with heavy cream, pesto and bowtie pasta was a hit recently. You can use it instead of tomato sauce over your spaghetti.

I've spread it on toasted French bread. On crackers with a bit of salami it's an appetizer. 

You know what's really, really good? A dab -- just a dab -- of pesto on vanilla ice cream with pitted cherries. Or peaches. Just a dab, though. 

This is for advanced pesto connoisseurs, so don't try this at home if you are an amateur. It's good, though. Rich, almost smoky, sweet and tart. A taste bomb. 

How do you use pesto?

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2 cups of packed basil leaves

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1/2 cup pine nuts (I toast them first)

3 cloves garlic

1/3 cup olive oil

1/4 cup mayo

salt and pepper

Blend all together in a food processor. Serve over anything. Enjoy with gusto..