Pesto time

The kids and I went to what we call "the mushroom store" yesterday - it's a cute little store down the road featuring Wisconsin grown produce, specialty cheeses, and their own delectable mushrooms, and pasta sauces.
We like going because the store is known for its generosity in providing free samples. Yum! One of the samples we had was pesto butter on a small chunk of french bread...out of this world! I made quite a few batches of pesto this year, but not any pesto butter. Why don't we do that this afternoon? If you have a few scraggly bushes of basil still hanging around in your garden, why don't you join me. Here's a recipe:
Basil Butter

• 4.5 cups loosely packed basil leaves
• 1/3 cup pine nuts
• 3/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter

Directions:

In a food processor: use the steel blade to finely mince garlic. Add basil and process until finely chopped. Add pine nuts and Parmesan; process until coarsely chopped. Blend in butter. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week; freeze for longer storage. Serve at room temperature.

By the way, the mushroom store charged $4.25 for only 4 ounces of pesto butter. This recipe makes $8.50 worth of pesto butter!
Here's an interesting recipe that uses pesto butter.
Enjoy!