There aren’t very many things that I like about the suburbs, but I am green with envy over people who have gardens in the summer. Unless of course that person is my dad and I can reap the benefits of said garden in the form of pesto and fresh tomatoes!
We chopped down two whole basil plants to make traditional and purple pesto (made with purple basil). Saveur magazine was devoted to pesto this month, and featured tons of variations, but we used the classic pesto Genovese recipe.
The only thing really unique about this recipe is that it calls for you to blanch the basil to take some of the bitterness out before putting it in the food processor.
Pecorino, parmesan, roasted garlic, pine nuts – can’t go wrong with that. Pesto pizza is one of my favorites, but I can also settle for just eating it right off of the spoon.
We taste tested with a little quinoa spaghetti and fresh tomatoes in fig balsamic; I felt like Mario Batali.
More on my other Michigan eats later!