Summertime in New England is a joyous time for us fellow cooks. Beautiful, ripe, and absolutely delicious fruits and vegetables are in abundance: crunchy cucumbers just picked off the vine, fragrant tomatoes, juicy peaches and even the occasional squash blossom for stuffing.
While farmers have graced us with their beautiful bounty across the region, it’s our job to seek it out. As we all know, sourcing good food can be just as involved (and rewarding) as cooking it. Summer weekends are spent visiting farmers markets, farm stands and pick-your-own farms with the objective of finding the perfect produce.
If you’re interested in frolicking through MA farmland like I am (or consuming MA grown food in any shape or form), I recommend the MDAR (Massachusetts Department of Agriculture) website for their comprehensive resources on farmers’ markets, u-pick and CSA farms, as well as general agro-tourism. Their state map is incredibly helpful for planning an afternoon of fun farm activities, like picking your own flowers at the incredibly cute, and aptly named, Small Farm in Stow or cherry picking at the friendly Carver Hill Orchard just down the road.
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With summer bounty, comes summer responsibility and work. If you want to take full advantage of seasonal produce, you must process, can, and freeze. Around this time of year, basil comes in full force. When the bunches are fattest, I know it’s pesto time. With just a few simple ingredients and at a very reasonable price, you can enjoy homemade pesto year-round. I recommend using freezer bags, which also come with labels, so you can identify them with dates. We’ve enjoyed our pesto for close to a year after freezing. I hope you do too!
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Ingredients:
Basil, 5oz or 4 cups
Walnuts, ¾ cup (feel free to use pine nuts if preferred)
Grated parmesan and or parmesan/romano blend, ¾ cup
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp
Water, 1 tbsp if needed
Salt, ¼ tsp
Toast nuts until golden and combine all ingredients in food processor.
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Blend until combined and then taste. Add a little water if the consistency is too dry (too dry to mix cohesively) and add salt to taste.
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Scoop into freezer-safe bags or containers, about one cup per bag/container. Freeze, refrigerate for later, or use immediately.
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This is a concentrated pesto that is best added to recipes and when using for pasta, mixing with a generous amount of the water used from cooking the pasta.
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