Drying Parsley

This year's parsley was more abundant than in previous years. What started off as a few scraggly plants donated by a fellow YMCA member seemed to take off within the past few weeks of somewhat cooler temps, Luckily, tiger swallowtail caterpillars had not discovered it, so today was harvest time.

Parsley can be dried in several ways — air drying, in the oven on low heat for several hours, or in a microwave. I used the microwave method because it was the quickest.Microwave-dried herbs still retain their color and potency and this method is said to be easier on plant tissues than conventional oven drying. That's because the water in the leaves absorbs more of the energy than the plant tissue. The water in the leaves gets hot and evaporates, so the paper towels get damp during the drying process. The plant tissue heats up a little because of the contact with the water, but the water absorbs most of the heat. In a conventional oven, all the plant material gets hot, not just the water.

After washing the leaves, place in a single layer on a paper towel, then cover with another paper towel and set the microwave on high for 60 seconds. If some of the leaves remain soft, increase the time in 20-second intervals until dry. 

After the dried leaves cooled, store loosely in air tight containers away from heat and light either in a cupboard or the freezer. The dried herbs will keep for several months. When using dried herbs, release the full flavor by crushing the herb leaves before including in a recipe. When using dried herbs, add to soups and stews during the last half-hour of cooking or follow recipe directions.

The total time can vary according to your microwave and the amount of herbs available. The parsley did not cook or go brown (although it will if done for too long). Keep a watch on it and don't walk away. It may still be steaming when removed from the microwave.

Pesto & Pasta

We have a supply of basil in our garden this year thanks to a fellow “Y” member who donated some plants. We’ve been enjoying it in fresh tomato salads. And, there’s always  a few sprigs in a small bud jar on the kitchen counter.

Today, I harvested the basil, before it started developing seed heads, and made basil pesto that we enjoyed tonight over linguine.

It was delicious with a side salad — and so easy to make. Pasta is a great pairing with pesto. As the pesto is tossed into the hot cooked pasta, the heat brings out the fabulous flavors of the basil, garlic, and cheese. There’s also lots of other uses for pesto, like these:

• Use in place of pizza sauce
• Spread on on bruschetta
• Make into vinaigrette
• Stir into a chicken pasta salad
• Tossed with veggies
• Use as a garnish for soups
• Add into pesto bread
• Stir into quiche filling
• Mix with mayonnaise for a Panini spread

Basil Pesto

• 2 C packed fresh basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 C pine nuts (substitute walnuts or hazelnuts)
• 1/4 C extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 TBSP lemon juice (helps to keep pesto turning brown on exposure to air)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 C freshly grated Parmesan (or Pecorino) cheese

1. Discard any flower buds, stems or leaves in bad shape. All you want are leaves; wash in a large bowl under cold water.
2. Combine basil, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped. Add 1/2 cup of olive oil and process until mixed in and smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Add remaining oil and pulse until smooth. Blend in the cheese unless you are freezing it — see NOTE below.

NOTES

• If freezing, omit cheese and add it when thawing and using pesto.
• Add 1 tsp of sugar to perk up the pesto’s flavor. 
• Pesto keeps in fridge for up to 1 week; frozen 3 to 6 months.
• Freeze in ice cube trays. When it's frozen, just pop cubes out and put them into a freezer bag to use when needed.

Since I plan to use the pesto leftover from tonight’s meal soon, this ice cube tray wasn’t needed today.

Basil Pesto

Basil is one of our favorite herbs for cooking, especially with tomatoes. But, it has a nasty habit of bolting up so fast – first there’s none and then an over-abundance. Thankfully, we harvested all of this year’s crop before the current heat wave hit; if not, it would have withered in this 90° + heat.

Basil doesn’t freeze well and has a tendency to become brown and unsightly, so I decided to make pesto. It’s one of the easiest ways to extend the basil harvest. A little bit of pesto goes a long way, so not much is needed to flavor a dish. It can be frozen by tablespoonfuls or in ice cube trays or tiny containers.

Pesto is easy to make using a food processor and will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of months or frozen up to a year. , Replace the top coating of olive oil after each use, when storing or freezing in containers.

Note: pine nuts are very costly (at least in these parts). If not available, substitute walnuts.

Basil Pesto

Depending on how much basil you have, this recipe can be doubled, tripled or made more than once.

• 1/2 C plus 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 C chopped fresh basil leaves
• 1/2 C pine nuts
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2/3 C grated parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper

1. Combine 1/3 C olive oil with the remaining ingredients in a food processor; process to make a thick paste.
2. Transfer the pesto to a container and smooth out the top.
3. Cover with a thin coating of about 1 TBSP of olive oil. Refrigerate or freeze in ice cube trays or by tablespoons.

Note: These pesto balls were formed on parchment paper using a melon baller. They were then placed in the freezer. After the basil balls froze, they were wrapped individually and all the wrapped balls were placed in a freezer bag.