Fresh From The Garden Pesto

What do you do when you have a scary, hip high, basil plant and a tomato plant with lots of cherry tomatoes? Make Pesto, of course. As you can see I have a rather enormous basil plant. I took this picture after I made pesto so it was missing quite a few leaves. You can also see my tomato plant. Sadly I used all the tomatoes for this dish, but there are plenty more in the very near future. Of course that’s if the deer don’t get them, again. I used pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts, because my son has a nut allergy. I had never tried this before, but it turned about wonderfully.

Before I give out this recipe, I just want to remind everyone that I don’t cook with exact measurements. Taste it, smell it, see what’s good for you.

3 cups basil leaves
4 cloves garlic (less if you don’t like garlic)
1/3 cup of Romano cheese
1 cup pumpkin seeds (see how you like the consistency)
1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil. (enough to make it paste like.)

Pasta of your choice
1 cup cherry tomatoes (give or take or not)

Put on the pot of water for your pasta. While that’s getting ready to boil, put all the ingredients in the food process. Chop into a paste like consistency. Put half in a large bowl. Make pasta. When pasta is ready and drained, put it in the bowl. Put the other half of the pesto on top, the tomatoes and then mix it all together. That’s it. Enjoy the time with you family and friends and not slaving in the kitchen.

If you are looking for other interesting pasta recipes, check out http://onceuponafeast.blogspot.com/2007/04/presto-pasta-night-roundups.html. This blog has it's readers send in their favorite pasta recipes.

Hope this helps,

Elizabeth