There’s a pesto miracle waiting in your freezer

By Melissa Clark, The New York Times

Sometimes a kitchen needs a last-minute miracle, and mine is always frozen pesto. At a moment’s notice, I can stir a spoonful of herby, garlicky zip into any dish that needs it, lifting it to a whole new level.

In a perfect pesto world, that frozen sauce is homemade — a mix of tiny-leafed Genovese basil, Italian pine nuts and good olive oil that you’ve pounded by hand with a mortar and pestle.

In my world, though, I usually reach for the food processor. I whirl regular floppy-leafed basil with olive oil and sliced almonds (instead of pricier pine nuts) until I get a purée thick enough to spoon into an ice cube tray for fast access when dinner is nigh. (And if your frozen stash runs out, good store-bought pesto is a reliably herby Plan B.)

Pesto is typically destined for a plate of al dente pasta, but it actually works wonderfully as an ingredient, adding color and garlicky verve to soups, stew...