If you live on the West Coast like me, you've finally hit autumn weather. Among other things, that means time to harvest and process the last leggy basil plants before they wilt in the chill. And what better use for them than pesto?

What follows is "my" pesto recipe. This originated when my mother-in-law called me because she had an excess of basil, and wanted to know if I had a recipe for pesto. I made one up on the spot and gave it to her over the phone. Since then, this has been "Josh's pesto", and the recipe has made the rounds of the Rogue Valley in Oregon.

But since she's been making pesto and freezing it every year, I've had no reason to make it myself. So when I had an excess of basil this year, I had to call her and ask for the recipe back!

Read the simple version of the recipe, then see notes on the ingredients below.

Josh's basil pesto

• 6 cups loosely packed basil leaves (about 4 mature plants)
• 8oz toasted pine nuts (about 2/3 cup)
• 10oz parmesan, sliced or diced small
• 1/2 cup roasted or toasted garlic cloves
• 1 1/4 cups high-quality olive oil, plus more
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper (optional)
• 3/4 cup lightly salted water (just in case)
• granulated garlic (just in case)
• food processor or food grinder, rubber spatula, 4oz or 8oz glass jars

Divide the ingredients into two or three batches, depending on the size of your food processor.

For each batch, put the pine nuts, garlic, and parmesan into the food processor. Chop until reduced to crumbs or until they start to ball up into a paste. Add the basil and salt, and mix up so that the basil isn't all on top. Puree some more until the mixture is reduced to a bean dip consistency. If it's too dry and the food processor is having trouble, add a little bit of lightly salted water to lubricate it, but as little as you can get away with.

Finally, add the olive oil, and pulse only until blended. If you over-process, you will turn the olive oil bitter. Taste, and see how peppery it is. With a very peppery olive oil, you won't add any black pepper at all; if it's mild, add some. Also taste for garlic, and if necessary add a little granulated garlic at this stage if the garlic flavor is too mild.

Spoon this into jars. Cover with a layer of olive oil to keep out air, then put lids on. Freeze anything you're not going to use within three or four days. Keeps a year or so in the freezer.

Notes on Ingredients

Toasted Pine Nuts: you can buy these from Trader Joe's. If you have raw pine nuts, toast them in a 350F oven or in a small pan on the stovetop for a few minutes, until light brown. Keep a close eye on them, they'll burn quickly.

Parmesan: while parmegiano reggiano is great, really any middle-grade or better parmesan will work for this, including Grana Padano, Vella Dry Jack, or even an aged Wisconsin parmesan.

Roasted Garlic Cloves: I roast the garlic for pesto in order to tame it. This means I can get a more rounded garlic taste. Take 1 or 2 heads of garlic (depending on size). Wrap them in foil and roast in a 400F oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Unwrap, let cool, and peel.

Toasted Garlic Cloves: This is the faster method if you don't want to wait for the oven. Break up the garlic cloves from the head, but do not peel them. Toast them in a dry pan over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for about 5 minutes, until each clove has several browned spots. Let cool, peel and use.

Olive Oil: unlike the parmesan, it really pays to use good olive oil for this. Maybe not top top quality, but just below that. Something with a grassy taste and a peppery finish.

Granulated Garlic: Penzey's Roasted Granulated Garlic is useful if you need to add just a little punch of garlic to an otherwise finished dish.

This simple-but-delicious Italian fish dish is called "pesce all'acqua pazza", or "fish in crazy water". Where exactly the name came from isn't clear, but it's one of the more delicious things you can make in less than 20 minutes on the stovetop. More importantly, it's tomato season, so the perfect time to make this.

Like a lot of other traditional recipes, you'll find a bunch of variations on acqua pazza. This one works for me, but feel free to play with it.

pesce all'acqua pazza

3-4 cloves garlic, sliced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 to 1.5 lbs white fish filets
1.5 cups diced fresh summer tomatoes
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped flat leave parsley
2-4 large, thick bread slices (1 per diner)

Optional additions: 6-12 live mussels
6-12 live clams
1/4 lbs peeled shrimp

Toast or grill the bread. Put each slice in the bottom of a wide, shallow bowl.

Heat the olive oil and garlic slices in a wide (12-14"), deep skillet for which you have a lid, using medium-high heat. When the garlic starts to sizzle and color, lay the fish filets on top. Let fry for 1 minute, then cover with the chopped tomatoes and their juice. Add the mussels, clams and/or shrimp if using, scattered evenly around the pan.

Add the wine. Add enough water to make the contents of the pan a bit soupy: around 1/2" of liquid up the sides of the pan. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the fish is done and any shellfish are open. Around 2-3 minutes before it's done, sprinkle with the chopped parsley so it has a little time to cook.

Serve each diner a portion of fish on top of the toasted bread, and then spoon a bunch of the tomato-wine soup (and shellfish) over the top, until the bread is soaked. Serves two people as a one-dish meal, or four with other courses.

Fish: most kinds of white-fleshed fish skinless filets or boned steaks will work with this: butterfish, halibut, rockfish, striped bass, etc. The recipe also works with sole, but you will need to shorten cooking times, and not do the shellfish because they take longer than the sole does to cook. Tuna and mahi-mahi are a bit strong-flavored for this recipe.

Bread: use any white-flour unsliced real bread loaf, like a nice sourdough batard. Slice it about 1/2" thick and toast it for a few minutes. Trim slices as necessary to fill bowls.

• 1 bunch Tuscan cabbage (lacinato kale), about 1lbs (400g)
• 4-6 cloves garlic (depending on size), peeled whole
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 tsp or so salt
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• pepper grinder
• 3 to 6oz parmigiano, pecorino romano, or similar Italian grating cheese
• 1lbs (400g) potato gnocchi (store bought or home-made)
• two large pots, skewer, cheese grater, blender/food processor, cup measure

Fill both pots with warm water and put them on the stove to heat. One is for the gnocchi; salt the water as you normally would. The other is for the kale; salt it substantially, with at least 1 tsp salt.

Trim, chop and wash the kale. While the kale is soaking, but the garlic cloves on the skewer and poach them in the kale cooking pot for about 4 minutes. This will tame their flavor; otherwise you will end up with "gnocchi al Hulk".

When the garlic is poached, put the kale in the water and cook it for 1 to two minutes. If you are looking to preserve the brightest color scoop it out and dunk it in cold water. Otherwise, just drain the pot, reserving 1 cup of the salty kale water.

Put the blanched kale, garlic, olive oil, 1 squeeze of lemon (around 1 tsp), nutmeg, and several grinds of pepper (around 1/4 tsp) in the blender or food processor. Puree until reduced to a sauce consistency; if it's too thick, add the reserved kale water a little at a time until it's fairly smooth. Adjust seasonings for balance, using salt, pepper, and additional squeezes of lemon juice if required.

Cook the gnocchi in the other pot. Drain and toss the gnocchi with the pesto. Serve, and top with generous gratings of the cheese, or better: hand your guests the cheese and a hand-grater to serve themselves.

Variations:

• Spring version: replace the garlic cloves with 3-4 stalks blanched green garlic.
• Creamy version: add 1 cup ricotta cheese to the pesto when pureeing.
• Nutty version: add 1/2 cup toasted pine nuts or almonds to the pesto while pureeing.