Bounty of Basil

Mom has three large basil plants on her deck that are producing a mountain of basil. I can already tell we'll be making a ton of pesto in a few weeks. Last time we were over there she gave me a few sprigs, so Thursday night I decided to make pesto pasta with a cream sauce.

I took the basil leaves and put them in my food processor along with two cloves of garlic (I'd use only one next time since these bad boys were pretty large and made the pesto taste too bitter), a few good grinds of black pepper and whizzed it around. I added some oil through the top and blended it, wiping down the sides with a spoon periodically. I didn't have any pine nuts and I'm not sure how long the walnuts have been in our pantry, but the pesto tasted fine without either. When it was blended I added some grated Pecorino cheese and put it in a pot on the stove over medium-low heat. I added a half-pint of heavy cream and heated it until the cream started to boil.

Meanwhile I cooked a pound of ziti. When that was done I mixed the pasta with the sauce and grated more cheese on top.