Recipe: Classic Basil Pesto!
Fall is pretty much here in Chicago - there’s a chill in the air, the leaves are falling, and the potted basil on my front porch wasn’t going to survive our overnight lows. So I cut it all down, and made a big jar of pesto, and then drew a recipe about it. ^_^
Many years ago, I drew a ramps pesto recipe for my original I Think You’re Sauceome webcomic. I think this is from 2012! It’s a little crude, but I’m still proud of it, and I still use it as an example when I talk about recipe comics.
A recipe like pesto – which has only one real “step” – can be drawn in a simplified, super graphical style like this. I wanted to make an updated version since I made pesto from my basil this week. But I wanted it to be a more generic pesto template, with more precise measurements and suggestions for substitutions. Pesto is an extremely easy recipe to tweak and improvise to your tastes, but as with many things in life, you kind of have to know the rules in order to break them. Having precise amounts in a base formula definitely feels more thorough, but man! You can’t beat the simplicity of the design of the 2012 version.
Speaking of the last of summer’s produce! My friend Liz gifted me an absurdly large tromboncino squash from her garden. I am currently accepting suggestions of what the heck to do with this much squash at once. >_<
Shameless Self-Promotion:
The winter holidays approach! This is your reminder that you can buy shirts, totes and more from me at Threadless, and that you can buy books, prints and cards from me here. Any books you buy from me will arrive signed and with a li’l doodle! Unless you ask me not to do that.
The Only Upcoming Thing:
December 6: I’ll be speaking on a few panels and selling books and prints at Sulzer Regional Library in Chicago!
What I’m into lately:
Still obsessed with Once Upon a Katamari! It’s a lot of fun. There’s a stage where you roll up nothing but yokai! Another where you roll up famous Greek philosophers! You can also build your own Cousins and name them. I made a little purpley-pink one and named her Sarah, and now the King of All Cosmos can yell at me personally when my katamari disappoints him.
What Toki’s into lately:
It’s gotten chilly, so he’s been following squares of sunlight around the apartment. ^_^
Tromboncino at that stage of ripeness can be treated like any zucchini. Next year, try leaving it on the vine until the skin turns brownish, and then it can be treated like butternut squash. Because tromboncino has solid stems, it is immune from the squash vine borer.
There is also this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRlIgfpLYPw and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bk0N04671y0 and this https://pulcetta.com/2022/07/recipe-roasted-tromboncino-squash-tomatoes/
This is also good with fully ripe tromboncini https://ottolenghi.co.uk/pages/recipes/iranian-vegetable-stew-dried-lime