Making and freezing pesto

We bought a big bag of basil last week at the farmers' market and got another big bunch in this week's CSA box, the last of the season unfortunately. So we made pesto using a fine recipe from Epicurious.com. There isn't much to making pesto except getting the proportions right. We had a little over eight cups of basil, so we doubled the recipe, and then used this awesome ice tray trick to freeze the basil in perfect little portions.

Classic pesto
from Epicurious.com

4 cups basil, washed and trimmed
1/2 cup olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp kosher salt

Combine basil, oil, pine nuts, and garlic in food processor. Blend until paste forms. Add cheese and salt and blend some more.


To freeze, spoon pesto into ice tray compartments. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze. Once solid, transfer pesto cubes to a freezer bag and use as needed. Be careful though; the cubes will melt very quickly (and then stick together) so take what you need from the bag and get it back in the freezer as quickly as possible.