I live in an apartment with a balcony so I can't grow the world of veggies I want to - but I have managed to grow some herbs (parsley, mint, coriander, basil, rosemary, sage, thyme and vietnamese mint). I've also got some tomato plants, a couple of cucumber plants and a dwarf lemon-tree ... and no, I don't have room to sit on the balcony!
Anyway, the last few weeks the basil has just gone CRAZY! It's growing faster than I can think of ways to cook it, so I decided to make a few batches of pesto for holiday gifts.
There was so much I had to fill the sink to wash it. Needless to say, I got a few batches outta this lot!I made two variations, one with a crap-load of basil, a few sprigs of parsley, cashews, a few pine-nuts, olive oil and some Parmazzano (vegan parmesan substitute). The other was the same but instead of the cashews I had some blanched almonds so added them instead. (I thought later that I should have roasted them first, but it was super hot today and I didn't want to turn the oven on!)
They turned out great, I just made a delicious bruschetta by slathering the pesto on some toasted whole-wheat sourdough and topping it with tomato and cracked salt and pepper.
