Pesto and Pasta

After the late start, the vegetable garden is finally in full swing. We are beginningto enjoy mixed salad leaves, spinach, raddish and the typical sudden excess of courgettes is looking imminent. The potatoes which had to wait until the middle of June to go outare also looking due to flower very soon.

Last nights dinner was something of a first. Home made pesto using home grown basil. At least, the basil started out life as one of those horribly overcrowded pots you get from the supermarket. My previous experiences being that you use them once and then they wither away. On this occasion, I had a little space to fill in the 1st terracethe veg garden so I took the basil out the pot, broke it up into about 6 clumps and shovedit in the soil. For the first few days the basil really didn't seem sure if it could cope with this new found freedom and hung on the edge between life and death. But now after some weeks it is growing at an amazing rate of knots.
I easily collected the "3 good handfulls" that Jamie suggested and left the plants lookingnone the thinner. A quick session with the pestle and mortar with the addition of roasted pine nuts and garlic, blend with Olive oil, parmesan cheese and a little lemon juice. Season to taste, and hey presto, pesto.....

I can thoroughly recommend it (both planting out shopped basil and the pesto).