Frozen Basil

I froze six large portions of basil at the end of the season last year, mixing in some EVOO.  Yesterday I pulled out the first packet to use. Yes, it's been that long since we've had pesto.  Two weeks back we went to an excellent restaurant, Lucias On the Lake, in Hamburg, NY.  Our meal was awesome and the appetizer was a delicious pesto you dipped in fresh bread.  That had me thinking that we had gone too long without pesto.

 

We are locavores -- that's why we go to places like Lucia's rather than Olive Garden.  The meals are comparable in price, but the quality is so much better.   When I decided to feed my pesto Jones, I decided to keep it local too, since the basil came from our garden.  I've posted in the past about the Gondola Pasta Company, located in my old neighborhood.  Gondola pasta supplies a lot of local restaurants -- although the seafood ravioli I enjoyed at Lucia's used their own hand-made pasta.  I figure if I am going to go with good ingredients, home-grown basil, fresh squeezed Meyer lemons, EVOO and freshly grated Parmesan cheese, I wanted fresh local pasta as well.  This bag was made during the week.

Our chicken pesto spaghetti dinner was really good and even though the basil had been frozen for three plus month, it all tasted deliciously fresh.  Of course, mine wasn't as delicious as Lucia's... but it was worth the effort!