Lemon Verbena Pesto

We've started growing this in our new herb garden - took the old circle garden and broke it up into 4x4 raised beds.  I was scouting for something unusual and being mid-July, lemon verbena was one of the scraggly leftover herbs at the garden center.  It is a sub-tropical (zone 8-10 only), so I am going to let this grow till September then start cuttings indoors to overwinter them in my office at school.

There are lots of possibilities for lemon verbena (here are 5).  I would include as an additive to lemoncello, as a pesto, and as a flavor additive for mead (I am thinking of a dry lemon-infused mead, yum!).  Probably could do this with baked fish (especially foil-wrapped fish), roasted chicken (garlic and verbena leaves), and for summer teas (just floating in the infuser).

Here is lemon verbena pesto (based on this one).

Ingredients

• 1 cup of lemon verbena leaves (stripped from stems)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 4 tbsp of grated parmesan cheese
• 4 tbsp of olive oil
• 4 tbsp of pecans
• Salt and pepper to taste

Steps

1. Add verbena, garlic, cheese, and pecans to a food processor.  Pulse till the pecans are nearly unrecognizable.
2. Start up the processor on a medium speed and slowly drizzle in the olive oil to well combined.
3. Scrape the pesto into a lidded container and store in the fridge for 7 days, freezer for up to 6 months.