Pesto: A Little Bit of Love From the Italain Garden

I owe my love for fresh pesto to a Mr. Sean Dennis. As long as I have known the Dennises, they have found some way to fit a basil plant into their life.

Well this past winter I grew increasingly more interested in gardening. It was only a natural progression anyway. The years of landscaping, the grandson of a sharecropper, all of the hours outdoors, the wisdom of simplicity and self reliance, the love a cooking, and of course the absolute bliss that can come from eating have all lead to the somewhat chubby, jolly fellow ya'll see before you today.

Well unfortunately we have no house to plant our own garden, and our apartment's balcony is too shaded by trees to grow anything. This has lead to a few frustrations. Therefore any desire to get my hands in some soil, to put down some roots, and collect a harvest must be accomplished at friend's and family's garden's.

A few weeks ago Mom, Dad, Missy, and I went to check out the Memphis Farmer's Market. There was a guy there that had some great looking herb seedlings. The basil looked especially good, so I asked Dad if I could have a corner of his tomato garden to plant a basil plant. He agreed.

Recently I was on the phone with Dad and he said, " Kyle, you may want to get that pesto recipe from Sean cause your basil plant is growing like a weed!" I was shocked to see how the plant had grown.

So while Missy and I were down for the Fish Fry on the 4th, we gathered enough basil leaves to make a couple of batches. We added the basil to garlic, walnuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. The process was remarkably easy, although aided considerably by the modern wonder that is the food processor!

I have been enjoying one of the jars and we froze the other batch. That is the great thing about the pesto is that you can make a ton of it during the growing season and freeze most of it for the winter when a taste of summer is greatly appreciated!