Sunday, August 11, 2013

Pre-Pesto and a BLT Tasting

by Trina



Pre-Pesto is what I make when there's a glut of basil needing to be harvested, but not enough time, or ingredients on hand, to make full-on pesto. Whiz the basil in the food processor with some olive oil. The nuts and cheese can be added later when you have the time.



Spread the pre-pesto out in a thin layer in a Ziploc, and lay it flat in the freezer.



You end up with a nicely stackable block of pre-pesto which is thin enough that, even frozen, it's easy to break with your hands or with a whack on the kitchen counter. This means you can use small amounts of it when you need it without having to thaw the entire bag and then refreeze the part you didn't use (which is a bad thing to do).





Since there was pre-pesto sitting around, ripe tomatoes hanging on the vine, happy pig freshly installed in the freezer, and a slightly-earlier-than-fall crop of red romaine in the garden, I decided to do a little experimenting with the season's first BLT. I tried half of the sandwich with a little of the pre-pesto, and half with some roasted garlic and onion jam.







Both were really, really good.



4 comments:

  1. roasted garlic and onion jam - I still make that! Wonderful stuff

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  2. Hello

    Good Idea the frozen pesto-in-a-zip :-)))

    I have another version for you, take the bread, rub a tomato, put olive oil, salt and put all you want to eat, maybe anchovies or jabugo ham.... Paradise Catalan Style ;-)))

    http://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pa_amb_tomàquet

    I think it's easy translate this article from wikipedia

    Kind regards, you have a fantastic blog!

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  3. Hola jordi!
    YUM, thank you for the reminder of pa amb tomaquet! I've actually had it before, years ago, in Catalunya no less. I had forgotten about it, and will now be enjoying it once again, here at home. Gracias!

    Cookie Dough,
    So glad you like it! I've gone back to just buying the Stonewall Kitchens version because it's yummier. Have you tried theirs?

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