Oh it's grilling time again, and if you're blessed with lots of basil from your garden, it's probably pesto time also. We have been blessed with pesto for the second year in a row but as much as I love it, we just can't eat enough pasta and pesto to use it up. So we've been giving it away and using it up for other dishes like this grilled chicken marinated in pesto.
This is a very simple recipe. Just marinade the chicken pieces in pesto sauce for 30 minutes to overnight and grill.
If you missed the pesto sauce recipe I use the first time, here it is again.
2 Cloves of fresh garlic
3 cups of fresh basil leaves, stems removed
1/2 cup of pine nuts
1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup of olive oil
In a blender, blend the above ingredients together until smooth. Done!
COOKING TIP:
From experience, I found that this sauce will last in the refrigerator for two to three weeks stored in an airtight container. You can also freeze this sauce and use it to flavor anything that requires a basil flavor. You can freeze small amounts for sauces in an ice cube tray then after they harden, transfer the cubes in a ziplocked freezer bag. It is best to freeze them in portions that you will need so you won't have to defrost the bags before using.
If you are making a batch specifically for freezing, you can omit the parmesan cheese and pinenuts and add those fresh later when you are ready to use the basil.
I make something similar but I cook the chicken in the turbo broiler instead, plus I pile on the cheese, hehe. I have to agree, pesto as a chicken preparation is fantastic!
hi kaoko! I gotta get me one of those turbo broilers :)
I just made a small batch of pesto last night and have a couple of steaks. Forget the A1 sauce