This week, once again, we found ourselves with a beautiful bunch of basil in our CSA box. There’s only one good way that I know of to use so much basil in one meal, and that’s pesto! Good thing there are a lot of great ways to use pesto, or I’d be getting really sick of it. I have to confess, while this meal was my idea, it was entirely put into practice by the hubby. He made grilled cheese sandwiches with mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto while I went out for a happy hour, and even topped it off with a batch of from-scratch french fries. I knew I married him for a reason!
This is one of them, anyway.
You can make this grilled cheese as an easy weeknight meal with a recipe of the following pesto, plus some sliced fresh mozzarella, good, fresh tomatoes, and sliced country-style bread. The scratch fries are optional!
Simple Basil Pesto
1 large bunch of basil
1 clove of garlic, peeled
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Combine the basil, garlic, pine nuts, and salt in a food processor. Pulse until it forms a coarse paste. With the machine running, drizzle in the olive oil and let it process until the mixture is relatively smooth. Add the parmesan and process once more to incorporate. Taste and adjust salt as necessary.
The giant mozzarella chunks sticking out look totally scrumptious.
Yes, I do love some good, melty cheese… mmm…
My goodness! Guess who’s totally craving this right about now…ME!
Come share your delicious recipe with the rest of the crowd…http://inherchucks.com/2012/05/10/whats-in-the-box-25/.
Done! It was tasty, I can assure you.
Thanks Lauren! Here’s to hoping I get a big batch of basil so I can recreate this goodness for myself…
Delicious! I can’t wait to try this!
It is fantastic — hope you like it!
Do you realise that parmesan cheese is not suitable for vegetarians..?
If you’re talking about rennet, that’s not something I personally worry about too much. If I can get cheese with vegetarian rennet, great, but I don’t really sweat it. I’m just not that strict… but I do know that it’s important to some vegetarians.