Green beans, basil

Yesterday's share had basil, and last week's had green beans which I hadn't used yet.  An excellent pairing.  Here's what I cooked:

First, I dropped the green beans into a pot of boiling water, cooked them just until tender, and rinsed them in cold water to keep them a bright green color.  At the same time I cooked up about ½ cup (dried) orzo pasta. While the beans and pasta were boiling, I sautéed three cloves of chopped garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil.  I added three chopped tomatoes to the pan, and then added the cooked green beans, cooked pasta, and a handful of chopped basil leaves;  I heated the whole thing, and added about 2 T. grated parmesan and 1/4 cup of toasted almonds.  Voilà: a veggie-rich side dish (or tomorrow's lunch).

Note:

• The CSA supplies my basil for the year, and I do look forward to it.  Pesto is my favorite way of basil preservation, but sometimes the basil arrives and I don't happen to have pine nuts on hand.  So I wash the basil, get out the food processor, and chop it with enough oil to make it into a paste.  Then I drop it by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet and freeze it; later, I use a spatula to remove the basil "patties" and store them all in a container in the freezer.  That way I can take out as many as I need and make the actual pesto later (or just use them to season a pasta sauce, soup, potatoes, etc.).