The backyard basil withered months ago, but you can still whip up a batch of fresh pesto using seasonal, or year-round, products that blend beautifully into rustic pasta toppings.

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Winter greens easily stand in for basil in these pesto recipes.

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At Nonna restaurant, chef and co-owner Julian Barsotti makes a Tuscan-style pesto using cavalo nero, a winter kale variety also known as lacinato or dino kale. He blanches the leaves to soften them before processing with just a few other ingredients.

"I like this kale because it has a distinctive, earthy flavor," Barsotti says. "Unlike other greens, like spinach or chard, it maintains its structure and texture and doesn't turn mushy." The resulting pesto lets the kale's assertive flavor and vibrant color shine.

"I only use a small amount of pine nuts, for texture more than flavor," Barsotti says. "I want this pesto to be all about the kale." Tossed with linguine or gemelli, a twisted pasta that grips the sauce especially well, it really brightens a winter menu.

Chena Civello, co-owner of Civello's Raviolismo, makes a parsley pesto to drizzle over ravioli. With parsley a year-round staple, it's an easy pesto to whip up on a moment's notice.

In winter, Civello pairs the pesto with pumpkin- or butternut-squash- filled ravioli she pulls from the freezer. Throughout the year, she teams it with shrimp, crab or lobster-stuffed ravioli. Her recipe has a Texas twist: Instead of the traditional pine nuts, it calls for pecans, "because we live in Texas, and that's what's freshest," she says. The native nuts also add great flavor that stands up to the parsley.

Mary DiCarlo Francis of Jimmy's Food Store relies on a pesto made with both kalamata and California canned black olives for a quick winter fix. Unlike a more intensely flavored olive tapenade, she says the pesto makes a good pasta sauce, because "the canned black olives tone down the strong flavor of the kalamata olives."

Sometimes she blends arugula with the pesto, taming the herb's assertive flavor with half a bunch each of mint and basil. "It's a good way to use up leftover herbs," Frances says. She pairs both the original and the herbed version with thin pasta, such as capellini or thin spaghetti.

All of these winter pestos keep for several days in the refrigerator, making them ideal for quick pasta dishes. But you can put them to other uses, too: Spread the pestos on toasted baguette or country bread slices for a crostini appetizer; use them as sandwich spreads; drizzle them over grilled meats or sliced mozzarella cheese; or just use them as dipping sauces for torn bites of country bread. By spring, you'll be so hooked on these pestos that you won't want to stop making them.

Tina Danze is a Dallas freelance writer.

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Nonna's Julian Barsotti makes a pesto using a winter kale known as cavalo nero and combines it with a twisted pasta.

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Remove the kale leaves by gripping the leaf with your hand and stripping it away from the rib, from bottom to top. Most of the leaf will fall away from the rib; the narrow, top portion of the rib can be pulled off easily. When finished, you should have a total of 4 cups of leaves, packed. Rinse the leaves in a colander. Blanch the leaves for 6 minutes in boiling, lightly salted water. Drain in a colander and let cool.

When cool enough to handle, squeeze as much liquid as possible from the kale, working with one handful at a time. Spread out each squeezed portion of kale on a kitchen towel and pat the top with another towel, to absorb any residual moisture. The kale should look dry and pressed.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the garlic and salt, processing until the garlic is minced. Add the kale and olive oil and process until combined. Add the cheese, and pulse to combine. Add the pine nuts, and pulse until nuts are coarsely chopped. Set pesto aside (may be covered and refrigerated for several days).

Following the package directions, cook pasta in an abundant amount of well-salted water until al dente. Drain the pasta, reserving 2 tablespoons or so of the cooking liquid.

Combine a tablespoon of the cooking liquid with the pesto. Place drained pasta in a large warmed bowl (or a wide, large pan set over low heat, for piping hot pasta) and combine immediately with pesto, using tongs to toss it around so it coats evenly. If the pesto is too thick, add the remaining reserved pasta liquid to loosen it up. Serve hot or at room temperature, sprinkling each serving with additional grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese.

Makes 6 servings.

SOURCE: Chef Julian Barsotti, Nonna

Put first 5 ingredients in a food processor and pulse until mixed. Turn food processor on and pour a steady stream of olive oil into the bowl through the feed tube of the processor until combined. Add a few chips of ice and continue to blend (the ice helps the pesto retain its bright green color). Add grated cheese and pulse to blend. Pesto keeps at room temperature for several hours and for several days in the refrigerator.

Drizzle the pesto over pasta or ravioli (such as shrimp, crab, lobster, pumpkin- or butternut-squash ravioli).

Makes about 1 cup pesto, enough for at least 4 dozen ravioli.

SOURCE: Chena Civello, Civello's Raviolismo

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Mary DiCarlo Francis of Jimmy's Food Store uses two kinds of olives for her Black Olive Pesto With Capellini.

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Serve tossed with hot, cooked thin spaghetti or capellini. May also be used as a spread for tuna or egg sandwiches, tomato-mozzarella crostini or bruschetta. Makes 2 ¼ cups, enough for 2 pounds of pasta.

Herbed variation: Before adding the olive oil, add 2 cups arugula, 1/3 cup parsley, 1/3 cup mint and 1/3 cup basil; recipe will yield a larger amount of pesto, but it freezes well.

SOURCE: Mary DiCarlo Francis, Jimmy's Food Store