“Autumn…the year’s last, loveliest smile.” John Howard Bryant, American farmer/poet
Flowers are setting seed. Herbs are setting seed. Fat spiders have made wooly nests for their eggs in every crevice. Somewhat tattered butterflies have already tucked their next generation under leaves.
It’s true. All through the garden, every living thing seems to have suddenly switched its focus from today’s joy to the hope of tomorrow.
And, for the gardener, this means a rush of activity. Harvest 2019 is now or never. Some can. Some freeze. Some cook up massive pots of soup. Some make pesto.
Our neighbor, Liz, is among the pesto crowd. She whipped up a batch of autumn-tinged deliciousness a couple of weeks ago, using up an abundance of basil in the process. We were fortunate she had plenty enough to share, along with her recipe.
Liz’s Autumn-Garden Pesto
Toast about one cup of walnuts in a skillet. (Walnuts bring a rich taste of autumn to this pesto, but don’t be discouraged if you don’t have any at hand. Experiment with what you have.)
In food processor*, combine the nuts, two cloves of garlic, sea salt and white pepper to taste. Pulse. Add about two cups of loosely packed basil leaves and pulse about six more times, adding some extra virgin olive oil near the end.
Pack the pesto in a jar, topping it with a bit of olive oil to keep it from browning before use. Stores well in refrigerator for a few days.
* If you don’t have a food processor, a good chef’s knife or a hand chopper and some time can achieve similar results.
Nora Edinger -- JOY Journal 
I love making pesto. I have not tried to make it with walnuts though, I will give this a try.
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🙂 I wasn’t sure I would like it, but it really made for a fall-like taste. On a cool day, I would have really like this exact lunch with some soup.
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Blackbirds are having a feast on our Bramley apples, along with lots of other creatures, but plenty left for us. Picking them before they plunge to the ground involves climbing on the shed roof, but still we can’t reach them all. Cut up, bad bits to the compost bin, good pieces frozen or into apple crumble.
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Mmmmm. I’ve never heard of Bramleys, but that crumble sounds good even on a very hot day. We used to have Grime’s Golden apples in our yard at our past home. They weren’t the prettiest, but they were great for apple sauce. Be careful out there on the roof! 🙂
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Bramleys are popular cooking apples. I don’t know how old the apple tree is, but it’s had lots of branches hacked off over the years and its still big.
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🙂 Love those old varieties. We occasionally have good timing and stumble across an old tree while hiking through woods that were once farmland. I never have figured out what they are, but they are amazing.
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I plant basil with my tomatoes. The tomatoes are long gone, the basil beginning to flower so I needed something yummy, thank you!
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🙂 You’re welcome. We have about just enough basil left for one good batch of pesto. I’m debating what to do with the mint. Sometimes I dry it and throw bits of it on the floor when I vacuum in the winter so the house smells fresh. Or, I could use it up in sun tea. Ah, harvest time!!
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Yummy!
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🙂 Fall is my favorite — although it’s still very hot here.
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nice post…good share
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Thanks! 🙂
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Cool recipe! I make my pesto with basically the same ingredients (no Parmesan involved) but never thought of toasting the walnuts. Thank you for sharing, and thank your neighbor too!
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🙂 Oddly, there’s a bunch of us in the neighborhood that are always sharing food. It’s kind of like Mayberry. The toasting really does make a difference.
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Toasting the nuts makes a big difference!
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🙂 I learned this the hard way…
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