Hello and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook!
This week, I’m continuing to indulge my inner squirrel by highlighting seasonal ingredients that I like to preserve when they’re at the height of their ripest yumminess, and store away for use later.
In earlier posts, I featured fresh basic tomato sauce, peach chutney and chicken stock, along with recipes.
Today, I’m featuring one of my all-time favorites: pesto.
Pesto an incredibly delicious sauce that has any number of uses, and every year, when sweet basil is at its peak of the season, I make a large amount and freeze it in 8-oz jars for use through the long, cold winter and use it to brighten soups, stews, pasta, pizzas, fish, vegetables and the list goes on. Pesto also plays beautifully with any number of proteins such as shrimp, chicken, ham and other smoked meats.
While most sources agree that pesto originated in Genoa, Italy, the history of pesto actually seems to go all the way back to Roman times, although recipes for that sauce didn’t specify basil, but only herbs. But there are lots of variations on the traditional pesto recipe of basil, olive oil, pine nuts, salt, garlic and pine nuts. Some substitutions include cashews, pecans or almonds for pine nuts. Still others substitute spinach or arugula for basil.
“Pesto” is also highly regional. For example, the Calabrians add roasted red peppers and black pepper to the mix; and the Sicilians add tomatoes. The French call it “pistou” and will frequently omit the cheese. Pistou is served in much the same way as pesto: on pasta, in soup, with fish and meat, and is also the base for pistou soup, which both the French and the Italians claim as their own. I think we can all just agree that it’s delicious.
Several years ago, I made a happy discovery when putting together a pot of chicken soup. I had simmered a chicken carcass all day and was rummaging through the fridge for some vegetables to add. I remember that I had a piece of zucchini, an ear of corn, some carrots, celery and probably some other random pieces of vegetables, all of which went into the pot. Then at the last minute, I saw a tupperware of leftover pesto pasta, and some very ripe tomatoes on the counter and I tossed it all into the chicken soup. It was the end of the week, and I just wanted to clear stuff out to make way for the new produce I’d pick up at the farmer’s market the next day. The resulting soup was some of the most delicious I’ve ever made–it was partially the addition of the tomatoes, but my-oh-my–the pesto pasta added a depth to the soup that I had not counted on! Now, I never miss an opportunity to add leftover pesto pasta to chicken soup!
But pesto sauce is also great with salmon, as in this recipe:
Salmon with pesto and cherry tomatoes:
And it’s great as a base sauce for pizza, such as in this pizza:
Pizza with asparagus or zucchini, burrata cheese and pesto:
And of course, pasta with pesto sauce is always a home run:
Add shrimp, as pictured, ham or smoked chicken for delicious variations on this theme–pesto plays beautifully with all of them!
Tune in tomorrow for more fun with my inner squirrel–
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
