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Photo:Ray: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images. Illustration: Getty Images. EatingWell design.
Ray: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images. Illustration: Getty Images. EatingWell design.
As we come to the end of summer, one thing is certain: It’s pesto season. Any time of the year that you have some extra herbs or other green plants lying around, you can trust that making pesto is a pretty good use of your time. Pesto is an irresistible sauce, whether you use it ina big bowl of pasta with veggiesor asimple but filling chicken salad. It’s evena fairly healthy choice for pasta sauceor dipping—it’s packed with healthy fats from olive oil and nuts, and if you make it at home, you can control the sodium content.
The first tip is one that all backyard gardeners can appreciate:Pesto isn’t only for basil. If you’ve got something green growing in your garden, there’s a decent chance you can make delicious pesto with it. For instance, we’ve had luck withherbaceous cilantro pestopaired with avocado and root veggies, anda pesto made with carrot greensbrings a pop of flavor to one of our favorite veggie tarts.
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ForRay’s latest recipe, she tries her hand at a charred scallion pesto, which starts with two big bunches of green onions spritzed with olive oil and cooked over high heat in a cast-iron skillet or a sturdy grill pan. To add even more flavor and a beautiful green color to her sauce, Ray also adds parsley, basil and mint, plus classic pesto ingredients like lemon, pine nuts, garlic, cheese and olive oil. But that heaping quantity of herbs and scallions brings us to Ray’s second tip:When making pesto, always make double. Pesto freezes exceptionally well, Ray says, so if you have the spare greens to use, you should go for it. Just store the extra in a freezer-safe bag or even something likethese convenient freezer trays, and your flavorful sauce will be ready whenever you need it.
We havea few tips of our ownfor storing pesto well—for one, you’ll want to make sure that you keep the pesto away from air. Beautiful green pesto can oxidize, which will change the color from bright green to dark green or even brown. If you’re storing the pesto in a resealable container, use cling wrap on the surface of the pesto to keep air in the container from oxidizing your herbs. If you’re just using a freezer bag, simply press the excess air out of the bag with your hands before sealing.
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Ray’s last tip will come in handy for folks who are using pesto right out of their food processor or their freezer:Always use pasta water. If you enjoy cooking shows or just love making pasta, you’ve probably heard these words of wisdom before. Whenever you make dried pasta, dipping a measuring cup into the starchy pasta water just before draining your noodles will yield a cup of liquid gold that will help your sauce cling to your noodles. Various chefs may recommend that you add some pasta water to any sauce you use, whether jarred or homemade, tomato-based or cream-based. But Ray says the pasta water is most critically needed in pesto dishes.
“It is intensely important that you remember that when you’re making pesto,” Ray shares in the episode clip. “That is what marries the pesto literally to the pasta.”
So if you want your pesto to have a more luscious quality and cling to your noodles, a little pasta water goes a long way. Ray opts for about 3/4 cup in her recipe, but you may need to modify the amount based on how much pasta you’re making. To be safe, use a large glass measuring cup to collect your pasta water, then add it to your sauced pasta in small, 1/4 cup doses until the consistency is just how you like it.
Now that you’re armed with these handy pesto tips, you’re ready to take on anything fromparsley-walnut pestoto creamybasil-avocado pesto. Whether you spread it over a pizza crust, toss it with pasta or add it to a fun salad dressing, something delicious is definitely in store.
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