Pestos - 4 different ways! Thanks Lynn and Leo for all the basil!

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Our dear neighbors Leo and Lynn have a HUGE GREEN thumb --and tons of basil that they offer to us each summer --this year I decided I was going to have my own herb garden and of course as my father-in-law Andrew is from England decided an English herb garden but of course in my usual style I over planted trying to be symmetrical and get in lots and lots of herbs--below is the current state of my garden.


Anyhow my basil is floundering and dear Leo and Lynn have been emailing me to come pick basil in their garden --the regular sweet basil and a new lemon-lime basil ---so  with 2 grocery brown bags and scissors off I went to fill the bags ....


So I made 4 different types of pesto
1. Lemon-Lime Basil Walnut Pesto (great for seafood or chicken)
2. Traditional Pinenut Basil Pesto
3. Pistachio Basil Pesto (suggested by my friend Terry Coulter at worktoday)
4. Orange Basil Sauce from Cooking Light July 2010 for over swordfish

BASIC PESTO RECIPE
4 c packed basil leaves
1 c parmesan cheese grated
3/4 c pine nuts lightly toasted
2 cloves garlic
3/4 c EVOO
1/2 t kosher salt

*****To intensify green color-- blanch basil for 5 seconds in boiling water then shock it into ice water. Squeeze dry******



I picked all the leaves and used the salad spinner to clean/dry the basil.

And YAY this year used my Cuisinart food processor and didn't break it !




Last year I froze pesto in ice cube trays --this year I am soooooo WICKED smart -- I used my medium scoop and put saran wrap on tray --scooped and froze and then will store them in ziplocs !!
The best we decided was the pistachio pesto

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