Smoked Pesto?

[artisanbeard]

Hey everyone,

I'm always looking for new ways to use the herbs that I grow and cannot sell right away. I make pesto often, but never though about making a smoked pesto until today. I've smoked with my herbs several times, tossing some of the dry woody stems of rosemary, thyme and sage onto my coals to add to the flavor of something else...but I've never tried to impart the smoke onto the herbs.

I wanted to see if anyone has smoked basil for pesto before. I've read this post on smoking basil to dry it out and put in a spice rub, but I don't want to dry it out, just take on a nice smokey flavor.

I love the AMZPS, and think in a smokehouse on some sturdy window screens, with a couple of AMZPSs going, the freshly picked basil leaves would soak up some nice smokey goodness, but not dry it out too much to make pesto.

I've also heard someone smoking the pine nuts, but I only like to use what I can get locally, or grow myself, so I will probably not use nuts in it right now (pistou style). 

Has anyone smoked basil, and if so, how did it work?

Thanks!

-Kyle

 

[scarbelly]

This will be interesting to follow. I love pesto  

 

[porker ace]

Artisan beard, I have actually put basil in my smoker for a short while with the meat i was smoking. I used it in a sausage pasta dish, you can deffinately taste the smoke in it. I had it in the smoker , away from the heat for about an hour before i took it off. Hope this helps!!

 

[baja traveler]

I'm going to have to try smoking a batch this weekend. I need to make my last big harvest. I got sticker shock at the price of pine nuts the last batch I made, so substituted walnuts instead.

I froze up the batch in ice cube trays and bagged them in the freezer, now when I pick squash out of the garden I just toss a pesto cube in the pan with the sliced up squash for an easy side dish. Having a bit of smoky flavor to it would only make it better...

 

[artisanbeard]

@porker ace, thanks! That is what I wanted to hear!

@baja traveler, those are the same reasons I wanted to try it...use up my harvest, and make something new and delicious! Let me know how it turns out!

 

[porker ace]

It wouldnt hurt to spray the basil with water every 15 minutes or so to help keep moist, good luck, and keep us posted on the outcome!!

 

[pineywoods]

Baja almonds work well in Pesto as well.

Wife started getting that bread dough in a can stuff and then rolled it out flat covered with Pesto rolled it up and baked it. That came out very good.

I'll be planting some basil in the next few weeks I'll have to try cold smoking some

 

[porker ace]

Let me know how that comes out Mr. Jerry, would like to try cold smoking it myself..

 

[artisanbeard]

My little UDS is pumping out the smoke today, working on some Smoke-dried tomatoes (smoke-dried tomato pesto...hmmmm 

). I have an entire basket of red-ripe jalapenos waiting to be transformed into the best chipotles ever. Then I'm gonna hit the basil with some nice smoke action. I'm gonna need to add more than one rack in my UDS.

 

[chef jimmyj]

It occured to me that Fat picks up Smoke flavor easily and since you want a pretty Green Pesto, a dip in some EVOO and a short smoke, around 30 minutes, may do the job nicely. Of course a Cold Smoke would maintain the best color. Just a thought...JJ

 

[artisanbeard]

It occured to me that Fat picks up Smoke flavor easily and since you want a pretty Green Pesto, a dip in some EVOO and a short smoke, around 30 minutes, may do the job nicely. Of course a Cold Smoke would maintain the best color. Just a thought...JJ

Great idea on the EVOO dip. I'll be experimenting soon!

 

[porker ace]

Never thought of EVOO, gonna try that myself...

 

[baja traveler]

Smoked a small batch of basil leaves this morning to give this a try. Put the basil lightly coated with EVOO on frogmats and fired up the AMNPS with mesquite pellets and let it smoke for a half hour. I nibbled on a leaf and didn't really taste much other than the basil and EVOO, so I let it go another half hour. Made up the batch of pesto after an hour in smoke and the end result is if I keep my eyes closed and try real hard I can just barely make out a hint of smoke. The basil and the peppery tones of the first rate EVOO I used just overpower the tiny bit of smoke the basil can absorb.

Basil.jpg

• baja traveler
• Sep 23, 2012

 

[artisanbeard]

Bummer on it not picking up much smoke on the basil. Maybe a smoked cheese to grate in it would help. I have been using just a regular olive oil lately instead of the potent EVOO...the basil flavor seems to be much more pronounced when it isn't masked by a pungent oil. I will also try a batch with, and one without dipping it in oil to see if there is any improvement.

On a side note, smoked-dried tomato pesto is awesome...I might have smoked the tomatoes for too long though. It would be great as a flavoring for veggies or in a soup or something, but it is too smokey to eat as a pasta sauce. I'll post some pics in the near future.

~Kyle

 

[chef jimmyj]

 30 minutes was just my guess not really sure how long it would take. Thanks for posting result...JJ