Feta pesto

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: The Mint Killer has not lived up to her name this year. She’s been cultivating mint like nobody’s business, she’s cultivated purple AND green basil, and even the Easter Egg Peppers that Barbara from Acoustic Farms gave us when we stopped by the farm for sausage gravy and biscuits.

My Easter Egg Pepper seedlings? Totally blown. Bitten off by varmints. Chewed off to stumps—or, to the bare dirt.

Because The Mint Killer had such major, herby success, and because she and I went in together on a deep freezer that we have tried to fill as if we will have no access to any stores for the next six to eight months, we met at her house on Labor Day to get it done.

Get what done? Well, filling said freezer with summer-ready goodies, of course. The Mint Killer and I might claim the East Coast as home, but we spent a day getting in touch with our inner Prairie Girls.

The Mint Killer sent me out to harvest basil—we planned to freeze it, and to make pesto, and so I had stopped by the Co-op on the way over to purchase a prodigious amount of pine nuts.

I cut. And cut. And cut. And it was as if I hadn’t even begun cutting at all. I don’t know what’s in the soil over at The Mint Killer’s house, but whatever it is, basil likes it.

I returned to the front door with a toddler-sized bundle of basil. And yet, when The Mint Killer and I went back outside, she scoffed at my cutting ability. “You didn’t cut anything!” she said.

And yet, let me say again, I had cut way more than an armful. This is what happens when you give out a nickname that later becomes totally undeserved.

Inside, I washed and washed and washed the leaves, then spun them dry. Into the food processor went the pine nuts, the garlic and some salt.

“Do you have any Parmeggiano?” I asked The Mint Killer. “I didn’t even think about getting any at the Co-op.”

“No,” she said. “But I have feta.”

Feta. I nodded and thought. Thought and nodded. “Let’s throw it in. It can’t hurt.”

So we did. And thus was born Feta Pesto, brought to you by The Mint Killer and The Inadvertent Gardener. It’s a little bit salty, ever so basil-y, and absolutely amazing.

“Feta,” The Mint Killer said. “It’s not just for fish anymore.”

Feta Pesto
(Makes enough for about 1.5 pounds of pasta)

Four cloves garlic
1/4 c. pine nuts (Toasted, if you’d like)
1 Tbsp. kosher salt
Three c. packed washed basil leaves
3 oz. feta cheese
Approx. 1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
Additional salt to taste

1. In a food processor, combine the garlic, pine nuts and salt. Pulse until the ingredients are chopped finely, scraping the bowl if needed.
2. Add the basil and pulse again, approximately 10-20 times, until the basil is combined with the other ingredients.
3. Crumble the feta into the bowl and pulse five times to combine.
4. Drizzle the olive oil into the feed tube until the mixture becomes a paste. Taste and adjust salt if needed.
5. Serve immediately, store up to a week in the refrigerator, or freeze for up to six months.

This recipe is my contribution to this week’s edition of Weekend Herb Blogging, which is going to be hosted this week by Myriam from Once Upon a Tart. Please stop by Myriam’s blog for the full round-up, which will be posted late Sunday or Monday.