Pesto Sauce From The Back Porch

Photo: Jean Sanders

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed

1 handful fresh thyme

3 cloves garlic, peeled

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup good olive oil

1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 very fresh tomato

Preparation

I went outside the other night and hacked back the basil plant - it was getting pretty leggy - and tossed all the ingredients (except for the Parmesan cheese) into my little food processor. I cooked 5 servings of cheese ravioli, and made a green salad and a raft of garlic bread. (Tall Boy requires more food than the rest of us!) I quickly sautéed the tomato for a minute or two to share among the adults - the color and sweetness are divine with the basil - almost like having a serving of bruschetta.

Charles and Camilla got involved, as much as Camilla can be on crutches, and tossed the steaming ravioli with the pesto and the Parmesan before doling the ravioli out onto the shallow bowls. Charles had a little trouble with the Rabbit corkscrew and the mad, impetuous Chianti. Sometime he is such a butterfingers!

It's so beautifully arranged on the plate - you know someone's fingers have been all over it."

Julia Child