Basil Pesto

Summer is a wonderful time to enjoy plants, flowers, the outdoors, and fresh herbs. Unfortunately, I live in an apartment, so I don't have a yard, but I got creative and constructed a small herb garden under the window in my kitchen. This lovely little herb garden has provided me with mint, cilantro, oregano, and basil, which is my favorite.

I'm a big fan of pesto. My dad always made it when out of the basil that he grew and it was delicious. When I was finally able to grow my own basil, I had one end goal in mind: make pesto. So that's exactly what I did recently. When my basil plant had reached a reasonable height and was nice and leafy, I clipped some leaves and made up a delicious batch of pesto. Of course, pesto is delicious with a serving of pasta, but I also love putting it on sandwiches and enjoy a spread of it on a veggie burger. Point is, the recipe itself is very simple. Deciding what to do with the pesto once it's made is the fun part.

Recipe

1 cup fresh basil leaves

1/2 cup walnuts

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic

olive oil

salt and pepper

Blend basil leaves, walnuts, Parmesan cheese and garlic in food processor. While blending, drizzle in olive oil (about 1/4 cup) to make a paste-like consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until use.

lemon garlic spaghetti.

I'm still continually searching for new and wonderful pasta recipes. I found this one online. It's from a blog called i nom things, which I think is hilarious. Anyways, let's move on to the recipe. It's simple and delicious.


the recipe
serves 2
4 oz dry spaghetti
1/4 cup grated parmesan
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1/2 lemon
2 tbsp pine nuts
5-6 basil leaves, chiffonaded


1. Start your garlic oil. Pour in olive oil and chopped up garlic into a small frying pan and let it cook over low heat, until the garlic starts to brown on edges. Immediately remove from heat and reserve. While that's starting, boil pasta.
2. Chiffonade basil leaves, then take the leaves, cheese and pine nuts and add to a large bowl with the garlic and garlic oil. Squeeze in lemon juice. Add the pasta and toss until combined. Crack black pepper to taste.


substitutions
Not much. I used pasta instead of spaghetti...big deal, I know. I also just used bottled lemon juice instead of an actual squeezed lemon. And I couldn't find pine nuts at the grocery store, so no pine nuts. SAD FACE.


great with
As usual, pasta stands well on its own, but I almost always have my pasta dishes with a salad.


the review
I love pasta, but when a pasta dish is really heavy, my stomach feels like it's going to explode. So with that said, I have some good news: this is not one of those pasta dishes. This is light and summery and delicious. Very yum. I wouldn't have ever thought to put lemon on pasta, so I'm really glad that this recipe came up in my search. 


Can I also just say that it's so nice to have a recipe that is actually made for only two servings? It's so nice. Trust me. Since I'm only cooking for one person, I either end up with a ton of leftovers, or I have to cut the recipe in half, and that involves me doing math, which is a bad thing. So this was nice and simple--both the food, and the recipe.

two-pea pasta with ricotta and tarragon.

I'm always on the search for new pasta recipes, so when I found this one online at Delish.com, I thought it sounded great and couldn't wait to give it a try myself.


the recipe
coarse salt and ground pepper
12 ounces gemelli or other short pasta
12 ounces sugar snap peas
1 10-ounce package frozen peas
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons chopped fresh tarragon
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese


1. In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta 3 minutes less than al dente. Add snap peas; cook 2 minutes, add peas, and cook 1 minute more. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; drain pasta and vegetables and return to pot.
2. Toss pasta and vegetables with butter, tarragon, and ricotta, adding a little reserved pasta water as needed to create a thin sauce that coats pasta; season with salt and pepper.
3. Divide pasta among four serving bowls and garnish with tarragon, if desired. Serve immediately.


substitutions
I didn't have tarragon. I know that tarragon has a really unique flavor and there isn't really a complete substitution for it, so I just through some oregano in there for some flavor.


great with
Like most pastas, this stands great on its own. I had my pasta with a salad.


the review
Man, was this good. I'm kind of obsessed with peas, so the "two-pea" part of the recipe immediately hooked me. This is really easy to make, and it tastes fantastic. As far as sauces go, it's not heavy at all. I've been enjoying the leftovers for a few days now. I highly recommend making this.

tortellini with nutty herb sauce.

I believe I've mentioned that I come from a very Italian family, which means that we serve up pasta every single Sunday. Now don't get me wrong. I love pasta. But isn't it nice to do something with pasta besides just pouring a little tomato sauce on it? I recently got a new cookbook called Vegetarian: Tasty Recipes for Every Day, which has lots of tasty-looking pasta recipes in it. One Sunday, I decided to give the following a try.


the recipe
500 g (1 lb) cheese tortellini or ravioli
60 g (2 oz) butter
100 g (3 1/2 oz) walnuts, chopped
100 g (3 1/2 oz) pine nuts
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons cream


1. Cook the pasta in rapidly boiling water until al dente. Drain and return to the pan.
2. Heat the butter in a heavy-based pan until foaming. Add the walnuts and pine nuts and stir for 5 minutes, or until golden brown. Add the parsley, thyme and salt and pepper.
3. Beat the ricotta with the cream. Toss the sauce and pasta together and top with ricotta cream. Serve immediately.


substitutions
I don't typically buy tortellini or ravioli, so I just used plain rigatoni. I also did not have pine nuts, so I used some extra walnuts, and just a few cashews as well.


great with
Of course, pasta stands well on its own. However, I always love to have my pasta with a salad.


the review
I think the best way I can describe this dish is by outlining what I was thinking as I took my first few bites of this dish:
1st bite: Hmm, this is unusual.
2nd bite: It's not bad though.
3rd bite: It's actually pretty good.
4th bite: I think I burned the nuts.


This definitely has a different taste to it. I've never had pasta with a nut flavor before, and it's very interesting. I can definitely see why this is meant to be served with tortellini or ravioli--I think it really needs the cheese in those pastas to make the dish complete. I'm sure I'll be making this again, and I'll be using tortellini or ravioli next time I do.


And I won't burn the nuts next time either.

meatless meatballs.

I come from a very Italian family which means that every Sunday, it's pasta for dinner. This is a tradition that I kept up when I was away at college, and that I now continue on my own. I love pasta, but really, what's pasta without meatballs? Well, for a vegetarian that can be a difficult thing, but luckily, my mom has this incredible recipe for meatless meatballs. They're truly amazing. 

I was recently telling some of my coworkers about this recipe and they didn't believe that they could be a suitable substitute for a real meatball. My dad's not a vegetarian, but he absolutely loves these and says you'd never know the difference from a real meatball. I made this recipe and brought it into my coworkers to share and sure enough, they agreed. I hope you do too.

the recipe

1 cup ground nuts (walnuts work well)

1 cup seasoned bread crumbs

2 whole eggs plus one egg white

1 small onion chopped fine

oil for frying

salt, pepper, parsley, and oregano to taste

tomato sauce

Put the nuts and onions in a food processor and make sure they are well blended. Put in bowl and add additional ingredients and mix well. Form into balls and fry in oil in frying pan. After meatless balls are browned, put in sauce and simmer for half an hour. 

substitutions

I don't actually have any for this recipe. I think that's a first.

great with

Pasta, of course! I usually start with a salad and then serve the meatballs over penne with a five cheese sauce. Delicious.

the review

Amazing, quite simply. I've grown up on this recipe and I love it. Having never actually consumed a real meatball (seriously) I can't compare this recipe to the real thing, but I hear that the texture and taste is quite similar to a real meatball. This recipe is sure to be a big hit with anyone. Give it a try and see for yourself.