The Aerogarden Experiment: Day 35

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The Aerogarden Experiment: Day 35

POSTED: Monday, February 14, 2011, 6:02 PM

Filed Under: Product Placement | Recipes

Holy basil! It's been a little more than a month since I planted my Aerogarden, and I need only ogle the seasonally implausible snapshot above to answer my original question: Does this thing work? Uh, yeah. Of the seven varieties of basil the Aerogarden grew (with virtually no help from me except for refilling the water and adding nutrient tablets twice), my favorite is the Marseilles, a breed I'd never known, with insanely fragrant leaves. (I don't think my dog agrees; she nuzzles the plant and promptly goes into a sneezing fit.) Now that my basils have all matured, I'm thinking one thing: pesto! Peep my Grandmom Jo's recipe (with a tweak or two) after the jump.

Grandmom Jo's Pesto

Go Get This: 1 big bunch fresh basil leaves 1 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 cup grated Locatelli cheese 1/2 cup raw pignoli nuts 1/4 cup raw almonds Zest of 1/2 a lemon Splash red wine vinegar Freshly ground black pepper, to taste Now Do This: In a food processor or blender, pulse the basil, cheese, nuts, zest and vinegar to combine. Then turn it on low speed, streaming in the olive oil slowly until a loose, green paste forms. Voila! Pesto. (If you prefer a smoother pesto, let the processor rip another minute.) Use immediately, tossed with hot pasta, as a dip for garlic bread or dabbed on fish, or transfer to airtight containers and freeze indefinitely.

Posted by Adam Erace @ 6:02 PM Permalink | Post a comment

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Founded in October 2008, Meal Ticket is a City Paper blog about food, drink and assorted other things that make you go mmm. We do recipes, interviews, restaurant news, commentary and much more. We don't do restaurant reviews here — those are handled in print, mostly by our critic (and Meal Ticket contributor) Adam Erace. Got a tip, question, thought or concern? Just want to say hello? Please shoot a note to caroline@citypaper.net.

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