Tag Archives: pesto

Reliving the Glory of Summer – Pasta al Pesto Genovese in the Fall

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Post-Thanksgiving Pasta – Sounds like a bad idea, right? I am a few weeks late with this post, but I hope you will still find it entertaining.

Pretty Purple Taters and Green Beans Ready to go

Pasta al Pesto was great excuse to reminisce about the summer’s bounty.  And required no additional shopping – a bonus after hitting the grocery store multiple times while prepping for Thanksgiving. I pulled a glass jar of pesto out of the freezer Saturday morning to defrost, excited for my resourceful quasi-pantry meal. We had purple potatoes leftover from the last CSA pick-ups (remember, potatoes do last), and the green beans, while neither local or seasonal at the moment, were leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. We cleaned and sliced them up, and boiled the potatoes first, then the green beans, using the same water.

Boiled potatoes and green beans, awaiting their turn

Set aside the veggies, then cook the pasta in the same water. While the pasta cooked, I thinned out my frozen pesto with some additional olive oil, and added 1/2 cup of grated parmiggiano to the pesto. If you prepare pesto for the freezer, don’t add the cheese until you are ready to use it.

Add the spaghetti, steaming, straight from the pot

Add the pasta to a large bowl with the green beans, potatoes, pesto and a splash of pasta water. Toss well.

Fabulous Fall Meal: Spaghetti al Pesto Genovese

Tutti a tavola! Spaghetti al Pesto Genovese on a chilly November night. I loved dipping into my pantry to pull out previously prepared treats.

Tell me what you’ve used from  your pantry lately.

Hurry Before it’s too Late! Pesto Now

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Another friendly reminder that the window for making pesto is closing. At least for those of us that live in northern, temperate US climates. Our herb garden is in zone 5 for hardiness, and we’ve already had some early frost warnings. You can check your zone on this map.

Herb Garden from Rural Intelligence

This article from Rural Intelligence offers more inspiration on pesto varieties, above and beyond the parsley pesto and pesto al genovese I’ve already written about. Kale, arugula, you name it. Check it out.

Pesto Gone Wild

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The clock is ticking for this year’s herb garden. As we approach frost-like temps in the evening, I know my basil has a limited life span. So, I did some heavy pruning on the basil this weekend and whipped up another batch of pesto to put up for the winter (remember pasta al pesto genovese?). While I was at it, I noticed that  parsley was in need of a trim, too, so did the same for my flat-leafed friend. Did you know you can make a rather tasty pesto sauce out of parsley, too? And arugula, as well, but sadly, don’t have any growing in my garden just yet. Stay tuned for updates on the cold frame…

I followed a recipe from my trusty “How to Cook Everything” by Mark Bittman. From memory, it is something like this:

Ingredients:

2 cups tightly packed, washed and dried parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic, peeled
zest and juice from 1 small lemon
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts (can also use walnuts)
3/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper

Lemon zest, parsley, garlic and toasted pine nuts ready to whirl

Instructions:

Place all ingredients in food processor or blender, but use only 1/2 of the olive oil. Pulse several times and then drizzle in remaining olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Taste for salt and pepper. Will stay in the fridge for 3 days, or pour a small layer of olive oil on top and freeze. Delicious on pasta, meats, fish, panini, etc.

I enjoyed reading RachelEats’s blog post about her parsley pesto as well. Check it out here.

Freezer-ready pesto

It’s Thursday and I’ve finally covered off on all of last weekend’s cooking escapades.

It’s Thursday and do you know what’s Left in your CSA Basket?

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Our CSA Pick-up day is Saturday and I’m usually out of food, ideas and energy for creative home cooking by Thursday night. Quick review of this week’s recipes:

But I’ve still got a few usable and useful items left, so it’s back to work tonight. I have the following left:

  • 1/3 quart cherry tomatoes – dinner tonight
  • Shallots and Garlic- dinner tonight,and these will last, so no hurry
  • Zucchini – have plans for zucchini bread this weekend, so sit tight
  • 1/2 head of cabbage – I’m out of ideas for you, cabbage head
  • 1 ear of early drought corn – Sam was going to eat for dinner, but the crazy rows look uninviting

Krazy Korn from CSA Pick-up 7/28/12

Krazy Korn is going in the compost bin.

We’ll have Salmon en Papillote and a green salad for dinner tonight. As I wrote in an earlier post, fish en Papillote is a simple to prepare dish for the kitchen weary. I’ll use the cherry tomatoes and shallots from my CSA pick-up, and then we’re ready again for Saturday’s stash.

Pasta al Pesto Genovese per il Pranzo di Domenica, or Sunday lunch Italian-Style

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A few days late, but wanted to share details on Sunday’s yummy lunch, prepared primarily from Saturday’s CSA pick-up. We made a delicious, traditional Pasta al Pesto Genovese. The traditional version is prepared with boiled potatoes and green beans in addition to your standard pesto. You use the same boiled water for the veggies as the pasta, giving the pasta another layer of flavor. I was inspired by a few things:

  • String beans, potatoes and garlic in our CSA stash
  • Basil plant in my garden growing like wild. Growing like wild for Western Massachusetts, not the Mediterranean, meaning it was about 6″ high, bright green and bushy, and in want of a haircut
  • My upcoming trip to the Italian seaside (please don’t hate me)

I’ve only had this dish in restaurants or at someone’s home and never prepared it on my own, so I was excited to give it a whirl. Here’s the final product:

Pasta al Pesto Genovese with local green beans, potatoes and pesto

It did not disappoint. Hubs and I loved it. We used orecchiette pasta (shaped like little ears) because  it would be easier for little Sam to eat than spaghetti, which would be the traditional pasta to use. Ironically, omnivorous Sam wanted nothing to do with the Pasta al Pesto lovingly prepared by his parents. Normally a big fan of pasta, I guess he’s just not that into pesto. His loss. Here’s the recipe for 4 servings

Pasta al Pesto Genovese

  • 2 medium new potatoes, sliced 1/4″ thick
  • 1/4 – 1/2 pound string beans, trimmed and cut into 2″ pieces
  • 1/2 pound spaghetti (or other long, thin pasta)
  • Pesto. Here is a basic recipe to follow (1/2 a batch should do, and you can keep the rest of the batch for another use)
  • 2-3 tablespoons reserved cooking liquid from the pasta

Instructions:

  • Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring to a boil. Salt generously and add potatoes. Cook until tender. Remove from pot with slotted spoon and set aside Some recipes instruct you to cook the potatoes whole, then slice them after they’ve been boiled. I think it is easier to start with the potatoes sliced so you don’t have to wait for them to cool later
  • Add string beans to the same pot of water. Cook until tender (not overcooked), and remove with slotted spoon and set aside.
  • Add pasta to water and cook according to directions on package. Test for doneness and reserve a few tablespoons of the cooking water when you drain the pasta.
  • Toss the pasta in a serving bowl with the pesto, potatoes, string beans and cooking liquid (as needed). Serve immediately.

American Classics: CSA Pick-up 7/28/12

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This veritable bounty will be transformed into:
– Tangy mustard coleslaw – use cabbage
– Corn chowder – use corn, potatoes, tomatoes, shallots
– Spaghetti al pesto genovese (ok, this isn’t an American Classic. Realized that after I published. Oops) – use string beans, potatoes, garlic and basil (from our garden and Wolfe Spring)

And more…stay tuned

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