Walnut Pesto – Herb Garden Brilliance

Walnut Pesto is one of my favorite rewards from growing a successful herb garden. Quickly made from fresh basil and parsley, along with garlic, salt, olive oil and parmesan, Pesto sauce brilliantly flavors an easy pasta dinner, grilled meat, simple bruschetta and much more. And don’t forget the toasted walnuts. They add an earthy depth of flavor to this delightful taste of summer.

Walnut Pesto on Farfalle, or Bow Tie Pasta, topped with toasted walnuts and grated Parmesan served in a white dish beside a bunch of fresh basil.

My Backyard Gardens

This has been the best summer yet in my backyard garden. I have grown nice gardens before but when we moved to the Pacific Northwest, over a decade ago, I found myself facing a whole new set of gardening challenges. One was the location of the backyard garden. It is bordered by a fence on one side and is crowded by a tree on the other. Though I try to keep the tree trimmed, the garden struggles for enough sunlight.

Another challenge has been adapting to the cycles of this climate. The Pacific Northwest is a region of microclimates. Fine-tuning local gardening recommendations to suit the elevation, orientation and proximity to our house of our particular garden site has required a number of adjustments too.

Fresh from my garden - parsley and basil sprigs with white and purple flower tops, beside some cherry tomatoes on a twig mat.

A Good Year in the Garden

Finally, this summer things have gone very well. I had tomatoes on several vines. Better yet, the flavor of the little yellow tomatoes that thrived on one of them has been exceptional. Few of them ever make it into the house. My husband and I simply eat them as we discover them before we even leave the garden. There is no better treat than a perfectly ripe tomato warm from the sun and fresh off the vine. Popping one in my mouth and biting into it is bliss.

This year we also had a couple of very productive zucchini plants. As simple as it is to grow zucchini I have not had the best of luck with zucchini vines in my garden here. This year has been different and I have been blessed by that age-old cliche of too many zucchini. I have been roasting them and shredding them and freezing them, but more on that later.

And then there was this huge mystery vine that took over half of the backyard. It turned out that it produced little yellow gourds on a plant that seemed better suited to pumpkins or watermelon.

Wild bunny in the backyard garden beside our Mystery Vine.

Basil in Abundance

Among these successes and delights, what I have been most thrilled with this summer (besides the bunny who hangs around a lot and only nibbles on a few of my least favorite herbs) is my basil garden. My basil plants have grown tall and lush with thick fragrant leaves. I can see them from my kitchen window. I have harvested this luscious herb for Nectarine Bites with Prociutto, Summer Berry Basil Sauce, Sweet Strawberry Salsa and it keeps growing beautifully. I have lemon basil, sweet basil, and at least three varieties with names I’m not sure of.

Not long ago I felt that it was time to really harvest this beautiful herb and make some Pesto. I trimmed my plants carefully. I cut, and cut, and when I finally got back to the kitchen I had a huge basket full of basil. When rinsed and separated I had eight cups of firmly packed leaves. I was amazed! In years past I have been lucky to harvest a twig or two of basil in my backyard.

To freeze Pesto: Scoop freshly made Pesto Sauce into mini muffin tins. Freeze mixture then remove from tin and store in a plastic freezer bag until needed.

Freezing Walnut Pesto

Getting down to business I pulled out a Pesto recipe that I discovered back in Dallas where my basil and parsley grew with abandon. There I made large batches of this Walnut Pesto and preserved it to use through the winter by freezing it in mini muffin tins. I filled each muffin cup 2/3 full then placed the tin in the freezer until the mixture was firm. When solid I transferred the frozen circles of pesto to a Ziploc freezer bag.

For a quick side dish just boil pasta according to package directions. Take one circle of Walnut Pesto from the freezer for each serving and defrost it slightly in the microwave. Add the thawed Pesto to the drained pasta along with toasted walnut pieces and Parmesan cheese.

Enjoy!

Walnut Pesto

Course: Main Dish
Servings

8

servings
Prep time

10

minutes
Cooking time

10

minutes

Quickly made from fresh basil and parsley, along with garlic, salt, olive oil and parmesan, Walnut Pesto brilliantly flavors an easy pasta dinner, grilled meat, simple bruschetta and much more.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup packed fresh basil leaves

  • 1/4 cup packed parsley sprigs

  • 1/4 cup walnut pieces

  • 1 large clove garlic, coarsely chopped

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

  • 1 lb bow tie or other pasta

  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

  • 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces

Directions

  • In the container of an electric blender or food processor, combine basil, parsley, untoasted walnut pieces, garlic, olive oil and salt. Blend or process until nearly smooth, turning on and off and scraping the sides of the container as needed.
  • Cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain.
  • Toss hot pasta with pesto sauce and Parmesan cheese. Top with toasted walnuts and more Parmesan cheese, if desired.
  • Or add shaved parmesan, toasted nuts, pitted olives, and sliced bell peppers to make a pasta salad that tastes great served warm or cold.

Notes

  • Recipe Source: an old magazine clipping
  • To freeze: Fill the cups of mini muffin tins 2/3 full with freshly made Walnut Pesto. Place tins in the freezer until firm. When solid, loosen edges with a knife and transfer the frozen circles of Pesto to a Ziploc freezer bag. For a quick side dish, boil pasta according to package directions. Take one circle of Pesto from the freezer for each serving and defrost slightly in the microwave. Add Pesto to the drained pasta along with toasted walnut pieces and Parmesan cheese.
  • Pesto also makes a great spread for flat bread or slices of French bread. Sprinkle with Parmesan or mozzarella cheese. Add a few white beans if you like, some sliced tomato and/or basil sprigs and bake till the cheese softens and the bread is toasty. Delicious as a snack or appetizer.
Pesto on French Bread topped with fresh tomato slices, white beans, shredded mozzarella and a sprig of flowering basil.

10 Comments

  1. Love pesto with walnuts and it's good made with pecans too!

  2. Zupan's Markets

    Freezing pesto in muffin tins–great idea for having fresh-flavor pesto all winter long! Walnut pesto is one of our favorite ways to use basil also. It celebrates the ingredients so well–from the licorice notes of the basil to the hearty walnut flavors and sophisticated essence of a quality olive oil.

  3. It's so wonderful to have a garden and I like the idea of a walnut pesto…getting bored with the pinenuts.

  4. Allison Jones

    Hooray! I'm so glad your garden is thriving. We had such a dry season, didn't we? I hear the rain is supposed to hit on Tuesday…

  5. I had no idea pesto was so easy to make. I am going to try it…

  6. I love the bunny in the garden. With all my kitty cats, I don't get to see many bunnies.

  7. hello, cute bunny. 🙂 that salad looks great, from the plentiful walnuts to the fresh pesto. glad your garden is thriving!

  8. Your garden has done so well. Mine at home was a bust but the one I planted at school did quite well. At home I have a sun problem and the only place I get great sun is in our driveway. Sad.
    I love pesto but have never made it myself due to lack of basil in my garden. I must change this!

  9. I usually use pine nuts but I'm a big walnut fan and love the flavor so will give this a try. Thanks for the tip about freezing the pesto pucks. Now I can enjoy it all winter long.

  10. I want a bunny in my garden too! So cute!

    I have a ton of tomatoes but for some reason the bigger tomatoes have some kind of fungus on the fruit intelf. Very disappointing!

    My basil is doing great though, fortunately. I just love pesto!

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