The Hunger Struck - Confessions of a Food Fanatic.

I have a tendency to have very unseasonal food cravings. I try to keep them under wraps, or at least attempt to control them, but one way or the other they always find a way to crawl out.  It can be the dead middle of the hottest summer in the last ten years and 3 months from flu season and I will be trying to stifle an out of control urge for chicken soup with matzah balls.

Wrong, I know but completely out of my control.

Unlike some people who insist that they can’t eat anything thats not light during those hottest months of the year, I have a tendency to crave these winter foods more intensely and then ultimately give in. I find that the easiest way to get a handle on cravings of this intensity really is just to give in to them. Which is why occasionally you can find me in my kitchen doing extremely unseasonal things that most people in the food world actively frown upon.

This weekend was one of those times. It may not have been the most offensive to date but it definitely was equal in it’s intensity. Fresh basil pesto was calling me and I knew I didn’t have the willpower to resist. Now unlike times past,  in order to pull off this particular recipe and ultimately satisfy my craving, there would be sacrifices involved, sacrifices I may not be fully prepared to deal with. At this time of the year, while still available, the little packages of  sweet Italian basil in my grocery store start to become mostly stems with just a few large not so delicate leaves – not exactly what I had in mind. No, there was only one place I was going to get what was necessary to pull this off in the way I needed to and I didn’t have to leave my house to get it.

My basil plant, the one I planted from seeds and grew into the most lush potted indoor basil I have ever achieved is extremely dear to my heart. This plant has been my pride and joy for the last 7 months, for which I would gladly have sacrificed my need for fresh basil in a recipe if I thought it would do damage to the the integrity of this plant. And sacrifice I did. There were many times this summer where if I could I would substitute another fresh herb in it’s place so as not to harm the fullness of this plant. I have this fear that as soon as I trim off even a small branch, I will lose the plant entirely.

Even though 7 months may seem like a short time, we’ve been through a lot together. There was that time at the very beginning when I accidentally tipped the pot over, spilling soil and almost losing the tiny little plant that just sprouted before it even had a chance. Or that other time in August when we battled through one of the most ruthless fruit fly pandemics we have ever experienced, only escaping with our sanity thanks to a little but powerful fruit fly killing machine: red wine. Despite these early challenges we came out the other end fairly attached, a little smarter and ultimately still alive.

But I have to say over the past few weeks as the weather has gotten colder, my little plant had started to droop a little and not look as healthy as it once did. I knew I was going to have to re-pot it if it was going to have any chance at all and I had also contemplated harvesting the whole thing on several occasions but just could never bring myself to actually do it. Yes, this was in part due to my attachment to the little thing but I feel like I also need to confess that the neglect to make a decision was motivated by a certain laziness: dealing with unpotting a plant in my apartment in the middle of the city, with no outdoor space to speak of = not my idea of a good time.

So I did what anyone with the same amount of laziness would: I harvested most of the plant and left just enough of the basil there to justify putting off the unpotting (is this a word?) or complete harvesting just a bit longer. I feel like this was the right decision and it really gave me some of the most amazing basil pesto I have ever made.

Fresh Basil Walnut Pesto

Pesto is really about personal taste, this recipe can be made with many variations. If you prefer to not have a strong garlic flavor you can easily use only half of the garlic or cut it out altogether for a mild pesto. The same goes for the nuts and cheese, I use what I have on hand and this time around that was walnuts and Parmigiano-Reggiano. You could substitute the walnuts for pine nuts or the parmesan for asiago or Romano.

2  1/2 cups fresh basil, packed

2 cloves of fresh garlic

small handfull of walnuts

1/2 cup or to taste, of freshly grated good quality parmesan cheese, I used Reggiano

1/2 cup good quality extra virgin olive oil

salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Place the walnuts into a food processor and pulse until they are chopped into small pieces. Add in the basil and garlic and pulse to combine. I like my pesto to have a bit if texture, so i try not to over mix at this stage.

Once the nuts, basil and garlic are combined turn food processor on and slowly drizzle in the olive oil until the mixture emulsifies. Add in the parmesan cheese and pulse to just combine.

Season with salt and pepper.

We dipped fresh olive bread into this pesto and just ate it as is. It was beautiful.