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Simon Gault: Hey pesto!

Hold on to summer with the fragrant flavours of basil.

I have a couple of different varieties of basil in my garden at the moment. I’ve got your standard basil, but as I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I like to try new things and have something a bit different in the garden. For that reason, this season, I have dark opal basil growing. It’s quite a striking plant, with a gorgeous dark purple leaf. The flavour isn’t quite as pungent as your standard basil and it certainly looks pretty chopped up on a salad, or as a garnish.

My favourite way to use standard basil in the kitchen is to blitz it up into a fresh pesto. Basil is the key ingredient in making pesto, so if your plant is really in bloom at the moment, like mine, this is the perfect way to use it.

For my recipe, I combine pine nuts, quality parmesan, a good extra virgin olive oil and a whole lot of basil leaves. Blitz those together and you have got a tasty basil pesto.

It couldn’t be easier. If you keep that in an airtight container it should last in the fridge for about 10 days. And there are so many ways to enjoy it. Cut generous slices of ciabatta and toast them on the BBQ – the basil pesto is delicious paired with the warm, crusty bread.

Another great pairing with basil is fresh mozzarella – it’s a flavoursome combination. Throw tomatoes in the mix and it’s hard to beat.

Recently we talked about tomatoes and preparing a caprese salad. Basil is a key ingredient in that light summery dish. Any of those flavours of Italy will be a great match, so you can’t really go wrong including basil with these traditional ingredients.

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