Cooking
With Summer in full blast the scent of basil is in the air. At my house the most common thing to do with basil is make pesto. Pesto is an intensely herby sauce that with pasta makes a meal or is great dabbed on top of fish, swirled in soup, on pizza, crostini, or even mixed into mashed potatoes.
Pesto is traditionally made with basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino cheese which is pounded into something that defies description. No good word exists to describe how glorious pesto is. Think about it. Paste? Goo? Goop? No. Even "uncooked sauce" doesn't do it justice.
While basil is abundant at the moment, I would like to suggest that actually there are several other good "pestos" that are not basil based. Last night I used arugula to make a lovely pesto with toasted walnuts. It was perfect over cheese ravioli. A cilantro pesto is terrific with fish or on quesadillas. A mint pesto is great with lamb or with white beans.
With a basic formula you can come up with a myriad of variations by replacing the basil and pine nuts. Try these combos:
Arugula & toasted walnuts
Mint & toasted almonds
Cilantro & cashews
Parsley & pumpkin seeds
You can also use a combination of complimentary herbs or greens like a bit of spinach with your basil or some chives with the parsley. Come to think of it there ought to be a pesto cookbook...
Note the proportions are approximate. Be flexible and make this recipe to the consistency you like best.
Basic Pesto
(makes enough for 4 servings of pasta)
Ingredients
2 cups basil leaves, clean and very dry
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
1-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, or combination, grated
1/4 cup pine nuts
Instructions
You can pound the ingredients together in mortar with a pestle, but you can also make this easily in a blender or food processor. Add the garlic first and chop it up with about 1/2 of the basil. When blended add the rest of the basil and the olive oil. Blend the cheese and pine nuts last. Don't over blend or the garlic has a tendency to overpower. Store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on top, wrap tightly with plastic wrap to help prevent discoloration.
Enjoy!
- Parsley Pesto Recipe
Eating on a budget is possible, but it's not exactly exciting. To be honest, despite my success with recipes I developed last year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't make any of them again after the Challenge was over. They were too plain,...
- Contest: Tomato Sauce Trivia
I recently suggested that with all the variations possible with pesto, perhaps a pesto cookbook was in order. Little did I know there already was a pesto cookbook! Very Pesto is divided into four sections, Herb Pestos, Pasta & Pesto, For Openers:...
- Pesto Chicken With Yellow Squash
Last weekend my famer's market purchases included some more of those wonderful baby yellow squashes and a packet of basil leaves. Originally I thought I would make pesto chicken with the squash on the side, but then I decided that yellow squash slathered...
- Souvenirs: Pesto Alle Noci
One of my souvenirs from the Vucciria market in Palermo was a small jar of walnut pesto. Its contents were listed as walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, and natural flavorings. Actually, when I purchased it I didn't have my dictionary...
- Just Buy The Book, Already!
Here's another wonderfully simple, and fast, recipe from Giada De Laurentis. Penne with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Wow. Talk about an easy meal! I even waited until Matt was home to start cooking, and we still found ourselves sitting at the table,...
Cooking
Basic Pesto Recipe
With Summer in full blast the scent of basil is in the air. At my house the most common thing to do with basil is make pesto. Pesto is an intensely herby sauce that with pasta makes a meal or is great dabbed on top of fish, swirled in soup, on pizza, crostini, or even mixed into mashed potatoes.
Pesto is traditionally made with basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts and pecorino cheese which is pounded into something that defies description. No good word exists to describe how glorious pesto is. Think about it. Paste? Goo? Goop? No. Even "uncooked sauce" doesn't do it justice.
While basil is abundant at the moment, I would like to suggest that actually there are several other good "pestos" that are not basil based. Last night I used arugula to make a lovely pesto with toasted walnuts. It was perfect over cheese ravioli. A cilantro pesto is terrific with fish or on quesadillas. A mint pesto is great with lamb or with white beans.
With a basic formula you can come up with a myriad of variations by replacing the basil and pine nuts. Try these combos:
Arugula & toasted walnuts
Mint & toasted almonds
Cilantro & cashews
Parsley & pumpkin seeds
You can also use a combination of complimentary herbs or greens like a bit of spinach with your basil or some chives with the parsley. Come to think of it there ought to be a pesto cookbook...
Note the proportions are approximate. Be flexible and make this recipe to the consistency you like best.
Basic Pesto
(makes enough for 4 servings of pasta)
Ingredients
2 cups basil leaves, clean and very dry
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
1-3 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, or combination, grated
1/4 cup pine nuts
Instructions
You can pound the ingredients together in mortar with a pestle, but you can also make this easily in a blender or food processor. Add the garlic first and chop it up with about 1/2 of the basil. When blended add the rest of the basil and the olive oil. Blend the cheese and pine nuts last. Don't over blend or the garlic has a tendency to overpower. Store in the fridge with a thin layer of olive oil on top, wrap tightly with plastic wrap to help prevent discoloration.
Enjoy!
- Parsley Pesto Recipe
Eating on a budget is possible, but it's not exactly exciting. To be honest, despite my success with recipes I developed last year during the Hunger Challenge I didn't make any of them again after the Challenge was over. They were too plain,...
- Contest: Tomato Sauce Trivia
I recently suggested that with all the variations possible with pesto, perhaps a pesto cookbook was in order. Little did I know there already was a pesto cookbook! Very Pesto is divided into four sections, Herb Pestos, Pasta & Pesto, For Openers:...
- Pesto Chicken With Yellow Squash
Last weekend my famer's market purchases included some more of those wonderful baby yellow squashes and a packet of basil leaves. Originally I thought I would make pesto chicken with the squash on the side, but then I decided that yellow squash slathered...
- Souvenirs: Pesto Alle Noci
One of my souvenirs from the Vucciria market in Palermo was a small jar of walnut pesto. Its contents were listed as walnuts, extra virgin olive oil, sunflower oil, and natural flavorings. Actually, when I purchased it I didn't have my dictionary...
- Just Buy The Book, Already!
Here's another wonderfully simple, and fast, recipe from Giada De Laurentis. Penne with Sun-dried Tomato Pesto Wow. Talk about an easy meal! I even waited until Matt was home to start cooking, and we still found ourselves sitting at the table,...