A Flavorful Tip

I've been making pesto for several years now.  Each spring I plant 'just one more' basil plant so that I can create copious amounts of pesto for the freezer--enough to last us until spring comes 'round again.  There is so much you can do with pesto!

In the past, I have frozen little blobs of pesto in ice cube trays, ready to pop them out and use them at a moment's notice.  But this year I hit upon another, easier method of portioning pesto for the freezer.

I spread the pesto in the bottom of a dish to a depth of just about an inch,  maybe a little less.  Once frozen solid, I popped the dish out of the freezer and let it thaw just a few short minutes.  Then, using a sharp, thin knife, I cut the pesto into little squares and transfered them to ziploc bags.

I have several bags full of basil pesto, mint pesto, and 'herb garden pesto' (which is my experimental batch using a combination of all the herbs in my garden--a way of preserving the last of the garden before the first frost.)

These little squares are great!  I have some leftover dinner rolls from last night's supper.  They were a little dry and overcooked so I grabbed a square of pesto, doused it with olive oil and we'll enjoy it with our lunch.  It's easy to take out as little or as much as you need, so there's less waste.  In the time it takes to cook your pasta, the pesto is thawed and ready to go.

I know that this is too late for this year's garden, but if you buy a big jar of pesto at Sam's Club, you can do the same thing.

Can you think of anything else that could be portioned like this to be used at a moment's notice?