I am Finding it Very Difficult to Keep Myself from Making a Presto/Pesto Joke Here, So Instead I Will Give this Post an Unnecessarily Long Title

Is your refrigerator overflowing with greens? Big greens, small greens, curly greens, flat greens? Are you starting to wonder whether it's even possible for a person to eat this many greens? There is a solution for your problem! You can make your greens tasty all through the long CSA-less winter! PESTO IS YOUR FRIEND!

Now I know there are some skeptics out there who are thinking "Pesto? That stuff is made out of basil. I have plenty of good ways to use basil." Not so, my friend! All your lovely leafy greens can be mushed and crushed and grinded into a tasty paste! Today I used arugula and kale with walnuts, but let your imagination go wild combining greens and nuts and cheeses! Pesto making is not by any means an exact science, but somebody asked me for a recipe for this stuff so I'm going to do my best to tell you exactly what I did.

Start by peeling garlic - I used about half of a large head. Toss it in your food processor with a big pinch of red pepper flakes and a teaspoon of salt, and give it a quick pulse. When the garlic is in nice little pieces, throw in your nuts - I used about two big handfuls of walnuts. Depending on the greens you're using, you might choose the traditional pine nuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, pistachios, or even sunflower seeds. Grind it all into a thick, nutty garlic paste. Mmmmmmmm.

And now in go the greens! I used three bundles of kale, stemmed and coarsely chopped, and a small bundle of arugula. I used to think that the tougher greens like kale needed to be cooked before putting them into pesto, but it's not true! Works just fine raw. Put a handful or two at a time into your food processor and pack it down. 

Sometimes you might need to scoop up a bunch of the already-pureed stuff and put it on top of your greens to get the kale down where the blades will find 'em and chop 'em. Keep adding greens and pulsing until it's a uniform paste, and then grate some tasty parmesan cheese and add that in too - I used about 1/4 cup. Now turn your food processor on low and slowly pour in olive oil until you reach the consistency you want.

Now you have a whole lot of pesto! Before the summer's over you'll probably have a whole lot more, and that's AWESOME! Don't just put it on your pasta - smear it on your sandwiches, spead it on your pizzas, stir it into your soups and grain salads, or do what I did tonight and just throw a little onto some fresh sauteed veggies for a quick and easy meal. You cannot go wrong with fresh corn, crisp green beans, and some delicious fresh pesto.

But even with all those way to use pesto, you'll probably have some left over. Lucky for us all, pesto freezes beautifully and can last you all winter! Freeze it in ice cube trays to make little pesto bricks that are perfect for two servings of pasta, and enjoy all winter long!

The end of last year's pesto.

And today's fresh batch!