Make Your Own Pesto with Home Grown Herbs
…and make good use of them! In these penny pinching times, the idea of cultivating our own food is an attractive one. The money saving-factor is a bonus, obviously, but that warm self-satisfied glow you might get from knowing your consuming something produced by your own fair hand helps too. However, the reality can be slightly different - those of us seduced by the good life might not always appreciated the amount of love, care and attention your own mini-allotment will require. If you’re worried about the commitment getting greener fingers might involve, then why not start off on a smaller scale with a few herbs?
Your own herbs won’t just be a handy seasoning option for your bolognaise. If done well, they can make a garden with their heady aromas and rustic looks. By even if you haven’t got a garden to speak of, a window box or a strategically-placed pot on your patio will do just as well.
It’s necessarily true that all herbs love a bit of bright sunshine – even the hardiest require some shade during the midday sun. Save the sunniest window spots for chives, lemon thyme, oregano and rosemary and keep the salad herbs in the shadier corners – instead of buying bags of pre-prepared salad from the supermarket, try growing your open rocket, chervil, ruby chard and sorrel.
Our B&Q offer saves you 15% on your order when you spend £150 or more – if you’re serious about your herbs, you might want to think about a vessel along the lines of this Blooma Cascade Planter for £98.98.
For compost, your own, homemade variety would be great in an ideal world, but you can also stick with an organic, soil-based compost – very few herbs thrive in peat. And what to do with your herbs once they’re thriving? Well, I don’t think you need me to tell you what to do with the salad ones, but perhaps try an easy pesto sauce to make a small pot that will keep in the fridge for a week in an air-tight container…
How to Make Your Own Pesto
You will need…
- 2 bunches of basil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 100g of pine nuts
- 200g of finely-grated parmesan
- 200ml olive oil
- Salt and pepper to season
Stock up on the rest of the ingredients using a Sainsburys voucher codes and you could get £15 off your first online order with a minimum £75 spend.
Remove the basil leaves from the stalks and blanche them for 30 seconds in boiling water. Follow this by refreshing them in ice water for the same amount of time. Squeeze out the excess water and put them in a food processor with the garlic and half the oil then blend until you have a smooth paste. Add the pine buts and use the ‘pulse’ setting on the food processor to combine them, then blend in the cheese and seasoning to taste. Lastly, add the rest of the oil. So much better than buying a jar of the stuff!
By Anna Scott, 22nd March 2013 - Check in for the latest voucher codes with My Favourite Voucher Codes