{"id":439,"date":"2014-06-22T12:54:35","date_gmt":"2014-06-22T10:54:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/?p=439"},"modified":"2014-06-22T13:07:52","modified_gmt":"2014-06-22T11:07:52","slug":"basilmania-and-monarchia-or-how-to-make-pesto-sauce-without-any-pomp-or-circumstance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/?p=439","title":{"rendered":"Basilmania and monarqu\u00eda: Or how to make pesto sauce without any pomp or circumstance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Basil is so named for basileus<\/i> meaning \u201cking\u201d in Greek, supposedly because it\u2019s meant to be the king of the herbs. If Leo can be king of the jungle, I guess Basil can be king of the herb garden. Word Wizard<\/a> states that Saint Basil the Great was also a 4th-century bishop who was one of the fathers of the early Christian church. He \u201cimproved the liturgy, organized monastic institutions on basis of work, charitable services, and communal life, instead of asceticism.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Basil\"<\/a> \"Pesto\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An all-round good guy, although I think Sybil from Fawlty Towers<\/i> might have a few objections about so canonizing her bumbling husband Basil. Regularly at each other throats, Sybil had no use for his unkempt and showy manner, or his neediness. Not unlike it seems our own garden basil as I debate how little or how much water and attention it needs. And not unlike John Cleese, for best results I have decided to give my basil its space.<\/p>\n

There are too many great John Cleese\u2019s Basil bits to list, but here\u2019s one<\/a> involving Basil and Manuel, where \u201con those trays\u201d gets mangled as \u201cuno dos tres<\/i>.\u201d But for me, the best thing about basil is what you can make from it \u2013 pesto sauce \u2013 which only needs a few leaves to get that unmistakably glorious taste. And in Spain, it\u2019s no surprise that basil (albahaca<\/i>) does best with a little oil (aceite<\/i>). Well, actually, a lot of oil. (Note, for a perfect Spanish sounding, albahaca<\/i> is more like albaca<\/i>, one of the few words I\u2019ve come across here where a letter is not pronounced in Spanish and is instead gingerly ignored).<\/p>\n

Pesto Ingredients<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
7 basil leaves<\/td>\n7 hojas de albahaca<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
50 g pine nuts<\/td>\n50 g de pi\u00f1ones<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
50 g grated parmesan cheese<\/td>\n50 g de queso paremesano rallado
\n<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
1 clove of garlic<\/td>\n1 diente de ajo<\/i> (literally a tooth!)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
8 spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil<\/td>\n8 cucharadas de aceite de oliva virgen<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00bd small spoonful of salt<\/td>\n\u00bd cucharaditas de sal<\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Pesto Recipe<\/b><\/p>\n

Ground the basil leaves with mortar and pestle. Add the pine nuts and then garlic and grind together. Add the cheese and oil and stir. Add the salt. You can also use a food processor to mix the ingredients, but it\u2019s not every day you can use a mortar and pestle. Lightly add to your favourite pasta.<\/p>\n

It’s really that simple, and of course you don\u2019t need your own herb garden to make pesto, any basil plant will do, which you can keep in a kitchen window. It may need some attention, but it\u2019s worth it. My only recommendation: go light on the pesto. No need for too much of a good thing.<\/p>\n

I have been living on store-bought pesto for decades (always served with fresh steamed vegetables) and swear by its simplicity and wonder. But making basil yourself, you really taste the ingredients, which I have to admit were a bit of a mystery to me before we made our own.<\/p>\n

As for whether we need a king and queen of the garden, or a king and queen at all (nudge nudge wink wink, know what I mean, know what I mean*), I\u2019m quite happy to do without. No need for all that pomp and circumstance or indeed so much wasted money. I’ll take my basil and pesto, king of the herb garden and sauces, all without the messy inbreeding.\u00a0\u00a1Al ataque!<\/i> \u00a1Que aproveche!<\/i><\/p>\n

* Ken and Barbie were crowned King and Queen de la salsa<\/em> this week.<\/h5>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Basil is so named for basileus meaning \u201cking\u201d in Greek, supposedly because it\u2019s meant to be the king of the herbs. If Leo can be king of the jungle, I guess Basil can be king of the herb garden. Word … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[5,4,15],"class_list":["post-439","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spain","tag-food","tag-language","tag-pronunciation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":444,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439\/revisions\/444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/johnkwhite.ie\/caracolas\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}