About mid July we gave up on our garden, the heat, among other things drove me to abandon the weeding and harvesting. A recent cleaning of the garden plot in preparation for winter planting, uncovered, beneath weeds and dead sunflower plants, a rather large patch of basil. So this weekend I decided to harvest the basil and make pesto. Pesto is one of the easiest dishes to perfect, taking little technical skill in the kitchen.

When setting out to make any Italian dish that has not been taught to me by my mother or grandmother, I turn to Marcella Hazan, the original authority on traditional Italian cooking. Her cookbook, Essentials of Italian Cooking, from which this recipe is borrowed, is an essential cookbook for anyone interested in making delicious authentic Italian dishes. The first fifty pages of this cookbook provide a thorough listing of the fundamentals of Italian cooking and the musts for a well-stocked kitchen. In each entry Ms. Hazan paints a picture of the region of Italy that the item is associated with, as well as the best product to buy, how to store it, and how best to use it in your cooking. Take for example her entry on Romano cheese:

“The Italian for sheep is percors, hence all cheese made from sheep’s milk, such as Romano, is called pecorino. The sheep antedates the cow in the domestic culture of Mediterranean people, and the first cheeses to be made were produced from ewe’s milk. The most stirring flavor of and consistency of any table cheese may be that of a four-month-old pecorino from the Val d’Orcia, south of Siena, served with a few drops of olive oil and a coarse grating of black pepper.”

I find these entries poetic and interesting enough that I have several times read through them with my morning coffee. I have become so enamored with the fundamental ingredients that now every kitchen I have must have enough dried porcini mushrooms in the cupboard for a year in case there is an emergency and I need to toss together a last minute mushroom risotto. My only disagreement with Ms. Hazan is the way in which she insists her method for preparing salad is the only truly good Italian dressing. While I am no fan of Kraft dressing, I grew up with an Italian grandmother who had a heavy hand when it came to vinegar.

As for making pesto, the ingredients are simple and few; basil, extra virgin olive oil, pine nuts and garlic. We can thank the Genoese for being the first to pair fresh fragrant basil with the subtle bite of garlic, the fruity hints from olive oil, and the creamy warm flavor of grated cheese. Ms. Hazan points out that pesto comes from the Italian word pestare, which means to grind, by mortar; by thankfully she gives us the okay to use a food processor, making this an easy and delicious dish.

For 6 servings

For the processor

To cook pasta properly you should use four quarts of water for one pound of pasta, and an additional quart for every half pound. When the water comes to a boil, add 1 ½ tablespoons of salt for each pound of pasta.

Because we love pesto at our house and want to have it year round, and because I had harvested an enormous pile of basil, I made several batches and froze the extra to have as a quick meal through the winter. While purists, and Ms. Hazan, would frown on serving pesto not made fresh, I can’t detect any loss in the flavor, and the reminder of summer in February is an added benefit. If you have extra basil, and you want to freeze some follow the recipe through the food processing section, steps 1 and 2, and package in sealed containers for the freezer. When you remove the pesto from the freezer, defrost and finish with steps 3 and 4.