Pesto: purple or green?

Pesto. Pesto is amazing. When I was a kid I thought pesto was just one herb. I didn't get it. And it seemed so FANCY - we never had anything like that at my house. 

So I've been making pesto all summer long, but then I decided, why don't I try to make pesto from PURPLE basil? I bet it'll be GORGEOUS. So I grew it from seed! So exciting. Spoiler alert: Not nearly as pretty as the green! But you will see.

This recipe: From my brain

What I changed: Whatever I wanted to change, because it's my recipe!

Ingredients:

- 2.5 cups of fresh basil, blanched (you can sub half for spinach, parsley, etc.)

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/8 teaspoon pepper

- 1/8 cup of extra virgin olive oil

- 1 or 2 crushed garlic cloves (or minced if you don't have a garlic crusher thingie)

- 5-8 walnut halves, roasted

- 1/3 cup grated parmesan

STEP 1:

First, pop your walnut halves into the oven at 350 for 8-10 minutes until they are fragrant.

Next, admire your basil. It's pretty. Take the leaves off the stalk, and shout angrily at any caterpillars that have been hiding and eating your basil without your consent.

STEP 2:

Wash your basil, then blanch it for 30-60 seconds in boiling water. Pour your pot of boiling water back into your collander and gently rinse the basil with cold water so it stops cooking. Blanching the basil leaves makes it keep its gorgeous colors much longer than not blanching. 

STEP 3:

Put basil, salt, pepper, crushed garlic cloves, and olive oil together in a food processor. Process for just a few seconds, till the basil is shredded and the oil, salt, and pepper are all mixed together. Add in the walnut halves. Process again until the walnuts are well mixed in. At this point you may need to run a rubber spatula around the edges of your food processor to push down any of the pesto-to-be that has splashed up on the sides. Add in parmesan and pulse just a few times to gently mix it in.

STEP 4:

Finally, put your pesto in whatever container you would like. I made pesto earlier that day using my regular green basil, and... well.... I prefer how the green one looks, don't you? Oh well, it had to be tried.

SPECIAL TIP:

Here's a tip from BFF: let's say your basil plant has been harassing you and you just have a LOT of pesto. Too much. And it's going to go bad unless you DO SOMETHING. So freeze it! And if you freeze it in your ice cube tray, you can easily add it to hot pasta and stir it around til it melts. Peeeeerfect.