Walnut Pesto

Gardening Challenges

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 still 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.

A Good Year

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.

This Summer’s Success

Among these successes and delights, what I have been most thrilled with in my garden this summer (besides the bunny who hangs around a lot and only nibbles on a few of my least favorite herbs) is the basil. My basil plants have grown tall and lush with thick smooth leaves. I can see them from my kitchen window. I have harvested the luscious fragrant leaves for bruschetta and Summer Berry Basil Sauce and salads 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 cut back 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.

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 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 pesto from the freezer for each serving and defrost it slightly in the microwave. Add the pesto to the drained pasta along with toasted walnut pieces and Parmesan cheese.

Walnut Pesto


from an old magazine clipping

¾ cup packed fresh basil leaves

¼ cup packed parsley sprigs

¼ cup walnut pieces

1 large clove garlic, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons olive oil

¼ teaspoon salt

1 lb bow tie or other pasta

¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

½ cup toasted walnut pieces

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.
Serve and enjoy!

Note: Pesto is also good spread on flat bread or slices of French bread and sprinkled with Parmesan or mozzerella 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. It makes great snacks or appetizers.

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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