Bunches of Basil

Little did I know that EVERY tiny little seed I planted would come up and flourish!  I love basil and zucchini, so I planted quite a bit of both.  Now I'm faced with using it up or figuring out how to preserve it.  I'll be taking a big bag of basil to work tomorrow, but tonight I used up some of it in pesto and pizza.

First I made the pesto. We have almonds, but not pine nuts, so this was a basil-almond pesto. 

• 3 cups basil leaves, roughly chopped 
• 1/2 cup slivered, toasted almonds 
• 3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped 
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (I used 1/4 cup of the powdered stuff, and then threw in a handful of fresh grated.  Next time, I think it needs to be the fresh grated all the way.) 
• 1/2 cup of olive oil (I think this was too much.  Next time I'll start with 1/4 cup, then add just a little at a time until it seems saucy enough.)

Toast the almonds - watch out, 'cuz they burn quickly.
Put the garlic, the basil, and the almonds in the food processor and chop finely.  
Add the Parmesan cheese and mix in.
Slowly drizzle in the oil while the food processor is running, until it looks right.
Scrape the sides regularly.

I used refrigerated pizza dough.  It was OK, but didn't get quite as brown as I like.  First I sauted a chicken breast in garlic butter, then chopped it up.  Spread the dough with pesto, then sprinkled on the chopped chicken.  Added a bunch of shredded mozzarella and sprinkled with some shredded Parmesan.  Baked it at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes - I could probably left if in for 5 minutes more.

The pizza really needed some tomatoes, but we were out of them.  Also, next time I'll add some chopped basil leaves to the top to freshen it up.