I'm lucky enough to spend the day in town on a Friday with my 2 youngest children, Millie and Tobie. I use this day to run errands, post off orders for my Shop, catch up with family and friends, do my weekly shopping, attend swimming lessons with my kids, check out the local shops and just simply hang out....
I usually have a good 7 hours to spend in town on a Friday as I bring my eldest daughter in to attend the local Catholic school which she simply loves! As of last week I started volunteering a couple of hours of my time on a Friday morning to the School and its vegetable garden - I had a ball! I weeded and mulched and fertilized and planned, oh did I plan!! There currently isn't too much happening in the School Vegetable patch so it was great to get in there and help them out a little. I was lucky enough to be able to harvest some of their current, slightly over-grown, bounty which mainly consists of perpetual spinach (a gorgeous heirloom variety of small leafed spinach) which I in turn made into pesto to share....
From 1 small bucket of leaves I made 3 jars of pesto - thanks to the help of my sister (who lives in town) and the use of her kitchen and a few of her pantry supplies... I am enjoying 1 jar, my sister is too as a thanks for her help and the Vice Principal and his wife are enjoying the last jar. Next week I'm hoping to make twice as much and maybe even more than that the following week. Our School Bazaar is on very soon and these jars of pesto will make for a great addition to a fund-raising stall - what do you think??
So, here's my recipe.....
Perpetual Spinach Pesto
Ingredients : : approx 3 large handfuls of Perpetual Spinach leaves. 2 cloves of Garlic. Olive Oil. Cashew Nuts. 2 Tablespoons of grated Parmesan Cheese. Salt and Pepper.
Method : : Wash (and spin almost dry in a food processor) all spinach leaves. Add the leaves to the food processor in batches until all are chopped and combined. Drizzle in approx 1/4 cup of good Olive Oil. Add 1/4 cups of Cashews and 2 cloves of Garlic (skin removed). Add grated Parmesan Cheese and blend to combine. Season with Salt and Pepper to taste.
Store in a jar in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on the top to prevent it from discolouring.
I love this smeared on freshly toasted wedges of home-baked bread with slices of tomato. I also love it on crackers with a nice and sharp vintage cheddar. But tonight I'm enjoying my Perpetual Spinach Pesto with some gorgeous hand-made pasta (a purchase from a recent trip away)...
To enjoy this pesto with pasta simply stir 1-2 tablespoons of it through cooked pasta with a drizzle of the water that you cooked your pasta in.
Crumble over some cheese, I'm having vintage cheddar tonight because I have some on the go in the fridge at the moment, and season with pepper - now hook in!
So.....
Do you love pesto??
Have you made it before?
What's your favourite kind???
