After planning, prepping and tending to your garden it’s time to use all of those wonderful herbs, fruits, and veggies your garden has produced. Follow along as Ashley of Heirloomed shares one of her favorite garden to table recipes. Just getting started? Click here to check out the rest of her Farmhouse Garden series!

Garden To Table Recipes

It’s Ashley from Heirloomed here. I hope you’ve been following along with us this season as we’ve planned, prepared and nurtured our Farmhouse Garden project. We are well into the season and the fruits of our labor are finally paying off – it’s harvest time!

Staying on top of your garden this time of year and tending to it by continuing to pick and harvest will keep your garden producing more and more as the season goes on. It’s a great way to get the most out of all the hard work you’ve put in so far and incorporate garden to table recipes into your summer meals.

One of the best parts about having a garden right in your own backyard is being able to go out and pick the freshest, off-the-plant herbs and vegetables and incorporate them into your family meals.

Today I’m sharing a simple recipe from your herb garden for Basil Pesto. If your basil plants are anything like mine they are just loaded with big leaves that continue to produce all season long. Pesto is a wonderful way to use up big bunches of basil and really get the most out of your herbs. It’s also one of those things that is SO much better made fresh rather than purchasing pre-made.

GARDEN BASIL PESTO

3 cups fresh basil leaves

3 cloves garlic, peeled

¼ cup pine nuts

½ cup freshly grated Parmesan Reggiano

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 tsp kosher salt

Pepper to taste

Pick fresh basil leaves from your garden, wash and pat dry. In a food processor, combine basil, cheese, pine nuts, garlic, salt and pepper together until finely chopped. Slowly stream in the olive oil while pulsing allowing it to emulsify with the rest of the ingredients. Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to one week. Enjoy!

There are so many wonderful things you can do with fresh pesto, like serving as a side to your cheese + vegetable platter for dipping crudités and crackers, or for tossing into fresh pasta. It’s also wonderful spread on a homemade pizza, for stuffing inside a chicken breast with fresh mozzarella or for simply spreading on a nice crusty slice of bread. The possibilities are endless but the rich, nutty flavor is oh-so-delicious.

And remember, you can substitute the basil with so many other plants from your garden to make variations on the pesto, like arugula, kale, spinach, sun-dried tomatoes and more so be creative and try your hand at some other varieties.

I have so many more ideas and recipes for using your fresh herbs over on my site, including Fresh Mint Ice Cubes, Lavender Ice Cream, Mint Simple Syrup and Herbed Garden Butter. And of course we’d love to hear how you’re using all the herbs in your Farmhouse Garden so be sure to share with us using #HDgardenclub and #heirloomedgarden.

I’ll be bringing you one last post this season on entertaining from your Farmhouse Garden so be sure to stay tuned.