Thursday, November 01, 2007

PRODUCTION LINE UPDATE




































The chopped quinces have been strained and their liquid added to the alcohol mixture for the liqueur [picture 1]. I decided the concoction needed a little lemon juice so added that as well. I'm so glad to get the bowl of quinces out of the way as it was taking up a whole shelf of fridge space!


I have to wait until Tuesday to put the olives in water and vinegar for 24 hours: after that I can flavour them.


Pesto is a versatile ingredient and I always make the green variety. I'd like to be able to tell you that I dutifully grind everything in this [picture 2] but I don't; I whizz it up in this [picture 3]. This works well provided you remember one thing - don't add any oil till the end. This morning I whizzed together: 3 oz fresh parmesan, 2 garlic cloves, about 60 fresh basil leaves, 2 small packets pinenuts, a little coarse seasalt, and enough olive oil to obtain the texture I prefer, which is quite a thick one. Pesto keeps well in a jar in the fridge but it does lose its bright green colour. It does, however, freeze beautifully and that way I always have a standby for a pasta sauce. As I've mentioned before, pesto also marries well with potatoes that have been roasted in olive oil.
I do buy red pesto and 2 types are available here, one containing chillis and spices whilst the other has anchovies added. Pesto is, of course, the invention of the ever-resourceful Genoese but the southern Italians have made red pesto their own. According to John Dickie, in Delizia, pesto did not originally contain pinenuts and could be made with basil or parsley.




































9 comments:

PinkAcorn said...

Is that olive oil made and produced in Sicily? I can never find any on the shelves of the super markets here.

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

This particular oil is from Perugia, Pink, but there are Sicilian olive oils available.

Liz Hinds said...

I don't like pesto. I'm not sure why that is. I think I might have etaen it when I was feeling unwell and forever associate it with being ill!

Crushed said...

OK, I think I have a market sorted at my local.
How much we going to sell a bottle for?

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

I can see that that would put you off, Liz. Hi, Crushed. I'll trade them for gin and tonic!

Trubes said...

HI Welshcakes Lim: I too, make a Pesto ,similar to your recipe and put a good splodge of it onto my special Minestrone Soup.
Hope you are well and enjoyed your trip back home. I`ve had to stop posting on my Blog site because of ongoing health probs re slipped discs, had a MRI scan yesterday so hopefully will be "up and running" shortly !
lots of love to you and Simi, Di xx

Whispering Walls said...

Looks wonderful. Do you grow your own basil? I'm going to have a stab at your quince liqueur next year.

Chelsea + Shiloh said...

Oh yum Welshcakes, i will definitely give this a go. My brother made me some using Macadamia nuts which was yum ..I'll let u know how it turns out..

Welshcakes Limoncello said...

Hi, TB. Nice to hear from you. Sorry you've been unwell. I hope you'll be back posting soon. A dollop of pesto in the minestrone seems a good idea. Hugs from Simi and me x Hi, WW. I do my best, in pots on the balcony but the trouble is I use it all the time! I'll let you know how the liqueur tastes. Hi, Gale. I imagine macadamia nuts would work well - that's imaginative!

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