At the markets today I hoped to pick up a couple of eggplants for babaganoush but I arrived mid day and everyone’s eggplants were sold out. It served me right for getting there so late. I did come home with a lovely bunch of fresh, organic basil. Basil is the one fresh herb that seems to go off more quickly than the others no matter how I store it. Having had a fortnight of rain, more forecast in the next three days and the air heavy with humidity, I thought I would bypass storing my basil and make fresh pesto.

For some odd reason I added Himalayan salt to the pesto and as a result I couldn't add the cashew nut ‘parmesan cheese‘ because it would be too salty. So for dinner, I prepared red lentil pasta and layered the sauces. I mixed the pasta with the marinara sauce, sprinkled cashew nut ‘parmesan cheese’ over and dribbled fresh pesto on top. It had layers of delicious, complementing flavours.

Fresh Basil Pesto

Ingredients
1 bunch of fresh basil leaves (approximately 2 tightly packed cups)

2 - 3 cloves garlic, crushed

1/2 cup cashew nut ‘parmesan’ cheese

1/4 cup virgin olive oil

1 tbs fresh lemon juice

ground pepper to taste

Method

Cut off the stems and wash and dry all the basil leaves.  Juice the lemon and place in a food processor.  Peel the garlic, crush in a press and add to the lemon juice.  Add the basil leaves, nut cheese, salt and pepper.  Run the processor until all the ingredients make a paste.  Slowly add the olive oil while the processor is running.  Adjust to taste.   Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.