September 4th, 2008 - I’ve been lying about my pesto
I just learned that I don’t make pesto, I make pistou. What’s the difference? Pistou doesn’t have nuts, and sure enough, I never put nuts in my pesto…I mean my pistou.
I’ve already made quite a few batches of pistou this year, even though I’ve not mentioned it much. I’ve made a few changes since last summer:
- After great frustration with the blender, I switched to the stick blender. Woohoo! It works so much better I can easily make a double batch without problems and tons faster than with the blender. I credit Eric with the idea; he credits me.
- I’m freezing it in small jars instead of cubes. The problem with cubes is that it was never quite the right amount. I always wanted a little more or a little less, but I was stuck with whatever cubes I pulled out. They also got quite icy by the end of the year. With the jars, I can pull out a jar at the beginning of each month (or so), let it defrost in the fridge, and then use just however much pesto I want each time we have pasta (or other delights with pesto. Ooops, I mean pistou!) I bought a case of 4-oz (1/2 cup) jars and have used them all up, plus two taller “jelly” jars I had downstairs. I’ve considered doing this before, but had read that you should only use jars specially made for freezing. None of the jars sold in stores every mentioned freezing so I avoided them. A few weeks ago, I looked up Ball’s website and discovered a list of which of their jars were safe for freezing (PDF). I also bought a case of the wide mouth Half Pints (why don’t they call them 1-cup?) which I think will be good for herbs.
- As mentioned, I’m making smaller batches instead of a great big one that takes 3 hours to process. It’s been much easier and I’ve done it three times already. I’d have done a fourth last night, but I was out of cheese. Tomorrow’s will be my last batch as I’ll have more than one jar a month ready. I still have plenty of basil outside but I need to resist the urge to make too much. I still have some from last year after all!