Pesto

 The basil has been going great guns in the garden, so it must be time to make pesto! Good quality pesto in the shops is so expensive to but, it is far cheaper and really easy to make your own.

 The one ingredient in pesto that is ridiculously expensive is pinenuts. I tend to use cashews in mine instead, much cheaper and just as yummy.

  Pesto is a great thing to have floating round in the freezer. I freeze mine in icecube trays - each cube is about a tablespoon of pesto. I also freeze tomato paste that is left over in the same way.

  The best way to make pesto is in the food processor.

  Pesto

2 c packed basil leaves
1 t crushed garlic
1/2 c olive oil
1/4 c grated parmesan
1/4 c toasted salted cashews (or pinenuts or walnuts)

Blend everything together until they form a smooth paste. Pesto oxidises and goes brown very quickly, so freeze or cover with a layer of olive oil in a jar in the fridge. So many uses!

I am off to Mia's daycare this week to make pesto and pasta with the kids for the second year in a row. They loved it last year!