From bunches of basil, a versatile mess o' pesto

Basil is officially inescapable. It's exploding in my garden. Neighbors are leaving their surplus on my stoop. Huge bouquets, from local farms, are front and center when I shop at Whole Foods.

And when life hands me basil? I make pesto.

The garlicky, herby sauce pretty much pairs with everything (watch your back, ketchup), which is why I like to plow through my bounty by blending up a batch of pesto, and then getting creative in the kitchen.

Here, with my Garden Fresh Pesto recipe, you can effortlessly pull together a complete and elegant meal, add zip to a healthy weeknight dinner, and spruce up a side so it becomes the star.

I love my Cuisinart Mini-Prep, which holds four cups and is perfect for small batches of sauces and dressings like pesto. (And, at $49.95 at Williams-Sonoma, it's totally affordable.) The smaller food processor efficiently chops the garlic in this recipe, and pulls a nice batch of pesto together in minutes. Feel free to adjust the sauce to your tastes: extra lemon for more punch, less or no garlic, more or less salt.

If you've got an insane amount of basil, double the recipe. It keeps in the fridge for at least five days, if properly sealed. Drape plastic wrap on the surface of the pesto to keep it from oxidizing.

Taking inspiration from a recent visit to a.kitchen in the AKA Rittenhouse Square hotel - where chef Bryan Sikora has a memorable crab and pesto farro dish - I tossed a few tablespoons of pesto with short-grain brown rice, which, like farro, has a nice bite. Lemon-doused shrimp and a tangy arugula and grapefruit salad balance the rice's creaminess.

This is also a great way to use any leftover or take-out rice that might be lingering in your fridge. To reheat, add some water (a tablespoon or so) and butter to the rice. Slowly reheat in a saucepan before adding pesto.

I never liked eating shrimp at home before I got my new cast-iron griddle, a large rectangular pan that fits over two burners on the stove with grill ridges on one side, and a flat surface on the other. It basically turned my burners into a Jose Garces-style plancha. It gets very hot, which means veggies, proteins, and these shrimp get very crispy, fast. I highly recommend one of these pans.

The arugula and grapefruit salad is refreshing. Check out www.philly.com/grapefruit for my quick video on how to painlessly produce pretty little grapefruit segments.

I've been sort of obsessed with chicken meatballs lately. Besides the fact that everyone likes them, the flavor options and sauce pairings are endless. Ground chicken is basically a seasoning sponge. In this case, pesto can go Greek, with oregano and feta, and a cooling cucumber-yogurt dipping sauce. These would be great for cocktail-party finger food, too. Baking them in a mini muffin pan makes forming, cooking, and cleanup easier than using a frying pan. I pair these with an orzo salad, filled with veggies, for dinner.

When I'm not feeling any of my go-to dinner options, I try to focus on making a side-dish special. (To cover up a boring piece of chicken, usually.) Having patatas bravas (fried potatoes) on my mind from a recent trip to Spain, I used a creamy version of pesto in place of the tomato-y aioli that usually tops the spuds.

Instead of frying the potatoes, though, I roasted them, and let them sit in the oven with the heat off - one of my favorite tricks for crisping potatoes without a deep fryer.

Makes 1 1/2 cups

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2 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons pine nuts

3 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

1/3 cup, plus 1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 cup, plus 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

4 cups fresh basil leaves

1 teaspoon kosher salt

Black pepper

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1. Mince the garlic in a mini food processor, scraping down the sides as needed. (If using a standard food processor, mince the garlic by hand.) Add pine nuts, Parmesan cheese, and 1/3 cup olive oil, and pulse to form a paste. Add lemon juice and basil and pulse, scraping down sides as necessary. Season with salt and pepper.

2. Transfer pesto to container, drizzle in an additional teaspoon of olive oil, and mix by hand.

Per two-tablespoon serving: 84 calories, 1 grams protein, 1 grams carbohydrates, no sugar, 9 grams fat, 1 milligram cholesterol, 214 milligrams sodium, trace dietary fiber.

Makes 4 servings

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For the pesto rice:

1 cup short grain brown rice

2 cups water

1 tablespoon butter

1/3 cup pesto

For shrimp:

16 large shrimp, shells removed and deveined

1/4 cup olive oil

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

1/4 cup chopped basil

Black pepper

Olive oil cooking spray

1/4 cup sliced shallots

1 whole lemon

Kosher salt

For the salad:

1 grapefruit

¼ teaspoon mustard

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups arugula

Kosher salt and black pepper

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1. Add rice, water, and butter to a saucepan. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer until liquid is evaporated, about 35 to 40 minutes.  

2. While the rice is cooking, combine shrimp, olive oil, garlic, basil, and pepper in a container. Marinate for 30 minutes at room temperature.

3. Peel grapefruit with knife and cut out segments. After segments are removed, squeeze juice in a bowl. Mix mustard with grapefruit juice. Whisk in olive oil. Toss with arugula and grapefruit segments, and season with salt and pepper.  

4. When the rice is finished, turn off the heat and let sit, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes.  

5. Heat a cast iron or grill pan on high heat. Coat with cooking spray. Cook shallots for 2 to 3 minutes. Nestle shrimp in pan, cook 3 minutes, and flip. Cook until crispy, about 6 minutes total. Sprinkle shrimp with salt and juice from lemon.

6. Fluff rice with fork and gently fold in pesto. Serve shrimp with rice and salad.

Per serving: 474 calories, 24 grams protein, 43 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams sugar, 18 grams fat, 180 milligrams cholesterol, 547 milligrams sodium, 3 grams dietary fiber.

Makes 4 servings

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2 pounds golden potatoes, cut into 1-inch chunks

2 teaspoons paprika

1/3 cup olive oil 

Kosher salt and black pepper

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

11/2 tablespoons pesto

11/2 teaspoons lemon juice

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1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a bowl, toss potatoes, paprika, and olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. Place potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer and bake for 20 minutes, stirring after 10 minutes. Turn off heat and let potatoes crisp in oven for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, mix mayo, pesto, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Place mixture in a zip-lock bag and cut off a sliver of one corner. Place potatoes in serving dish, pipe on pesto sauce, and serve.

Per serving: 296 calories, 5 grams protein, 40 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams sugar, 13 grams fat, 5 milligrams cholesterol, 143 milligrams sodium, 6 grams dietary fiber.

Makes 4 servings

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For the meatballs:

1-11/4 pounds ground chicken breast

1/3 cup diced white onion

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese

3 tablespoons pesto

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

For the yogurt sauce:

1/2 cucumber

7 ounces 2 percent Greek yogurt

1/4 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 teaspoon salt

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1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine all meatball ingredients and mix well. Form mixture into small meatballs, about 2 tablespoons each, and place each meatball into a mini-muffin pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

2. Peel cucumber and grate flesh (not seeds) on a box grater. Mix 1/3 cup of grated cucumber with yogurt, garlic, oil, lemon juice, and salt.

3. Serve meatballs with a dollop of yogurt sauce.

Per serving: 324 calories, 51 grams protein, 8 grams carbohydrates, 5 grams sugar, 16 grams fat, 146 milligrams cholesterol, 756 milligrams sodium, 1 gram dietary fiber.