My basil plant is exploding outside thanks to the hot weather and tons of sun. I have to pinch off buds every other day to keep it from trying to have babies with itself. It was getting massively bushy, so I trimmed it back a bit to give the younger, newer leaves a chance to sunbathe. What do you do with a bundle of basil? Make pesto!
I made a pesto-ricotta sauce by sticking the basil leaves with half a container of soft tofu, some lemon juice, a clove of garlic, salt, and a tablespoon nutritional yeast into the food processor. I set it to blend, and started dribbling enough olive oil in to make a somewhat smooth paste.
To make the pasta dish more nutritious, I chopped up some greens (either collard or swiss chard, I forget which) and sauteed it with half a diced onion and some soy ground meat. Then I dumped the cooked and drained pasta in, mixed it around, plopped on some of the pesto-ricotta sauce, mixed it, and called it a meal.
Unfortunately, I went a little pour-happy with the salt this time and the dish was super salty. Other than the extra salt, the pasta tasted fine.
pesto’s the best-o. i love how well it freezes, too
Those are beautiful basil!!! I bought a basil plant and it died on me within 3 days! I watered it everyday and made sure it got plenty of sun. Do you think it’s because I kept it inside? I wanted to wait and get it a bigger container before putting it outside but I came home one day and it’s just..dead.
I will try your recipe for my vegans days. Sounds delish.
Basil doesn’t like to get over-watered, so maybe that’s why it died? It’s best to just stick your finger up to your first knuckle into the dirt. If it’s moist, don’t water. If it’s dry, water. As long as it gets plenty of sun and a big enough container, it should be good.
My basil was looking kinda limp and yellow indoors in a window box, but I don’t know if it’s b/c the container was too small or it was just too hot in there. I put it outside in a big container with my tomatoes and it’s been fine.