I love growing basil. It’s one of my favorite herbs. And since I started growing it from seed and using my greenhouse to grow it , it’s a game changer. It is a stronger plant and it lasts longer when you grow from seed yourself. And it loves being in the greenhouse with the chili peppers I grow.

Today I made pesto out of some of the basil and served it on tortellini for dinner.

Now my late father made his pesto using a mortar and pestle. I use my blender. And below are the ingredients for my pesto and literally it just goes in the blender and I pulverize it. I refrigerate it until I’m going to use it and I just love pesto when homemade like this.

Pesto

3 – 4 cups fresh basil leaves

Bunch of fresh flat leaf Italian parsley or lovage 

1 cup olive oil

4-5 garlic cloves 

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

Juice but no zest of one lime

Salt to taste 

3/4 cup of toasted pine nuts / pignoli

1/2 grated Parmesan or Parmesan Romano cheese

Dash of hot sauce