pesto advice?

[vegansweetie15]

my friends are having a potluck/house concert next friday and i agreed to bring a dish, i wanted to make stuffed mushrooms, but the recipe i found needs a pesto made with fresh basil. would the pesto still be good if i substituted 2 cups of fresh basil with 2/3 cups of dried basil?

 

[chefbillyb]

No, you have to make it with fresh basil. You can also buy pesto already made in a jar if necessary... Chef Bill

 

[kyheirloomer]

Chef Bill is absolutely correct. For two reasons. First, basil is one of those herbs that takes on totally different flavor characteristics once it's dried. You really shouldn't be subbing with it in most recipes.

Second, at base, pesto is a fresh herb sauce. It's the mosture in the herbs that makes it work. So even if you subbed another herb, you want it to be fresh.

Speaking of subbing, for something like stuffed mushrooms I'm sure any of the variations we discussed on a recent thread would work just fine.

 

[kyheirloomer]

Here's the other pesto thread I referred to:

http://www.cheftalk.com/forum/thread/59524/pesto