Meal Monday
This year, for various purposes of home renovation and landscape redesign, I had to uproot my kitchen garden and put all my perennial herbs and my fraises des bois (wild strawberry) plants in aesthetically pleasing plastic pots from Home Depot.
And guess what, dear reader: they grew more abundantly than ever before. So abundantly, in fact, that I am now racing the overnight change of seasons we've just experienced in New England to use these herbs before they die of the cold.
I am not inclined to cut bunches of herbs and hang them upside down all over my kitchen in the hope that they will dry before they rot. Although that is certainly an option for the suburban herbalist.
Rather, I am inclined to make all sorts of different pestos, freezing them for later use. You know, kind of like Squirrel Nutkin storing food for the winter. Kind of.
Last week, I made a sage and chive pesto with walnuts and served it over whole wheat bow tie pasta. It was delicious. I often make oregano pesto and I love mint pesto, which is really good on pumpkin or squash filled pasta. Of course, classic basil pesto is always delcious and sometimes I use that to layer on my insalata caprese if I don't have fresh basil or just to change the dish a bit.
I also use all sorts of pesto on pork, chicken, turkey and fish.
To make any kind of pesto, just use the basic pesto recipe, substituting the herbs you have on hand. For mint pesto, eliminate the salt. Good luck outracing the weather!
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