Another basic recipie that can be changed to suit your day to day tastes is pesto. Everyone loves the classic pesto - basil, parmigiana cheese, pine nuts, and olive oil, but there are many variations you can make using the same basic recipe. All you need for a pesto is some sort of green, some sort of nut, cheese, and olive oil.
This week for a vegetarian "meatball" recipe we made a watercress pesto - and by we, I mean Steve. It was incredibly simple and tasted amazing - a nice variation on the regular basil pesto that we've all used before.
Chunky Watercress Pesto
One bunch watercress
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
salt/pepper
olive oil - about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup parmigiana cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions: Thoroughly wash the watercress and spin dry. Place the watercress and toasted walnuts in a food processor and let them go until completely combined and chopped up finely. While the food processor is on, slowly stream in the olive oil. The 1/4 cup is just an approximation on how much to use. I don't like to add too much oil to my pesto in an effort to keep it healthier. The pesto should be completely combined but still pretty thick at this point. Add in salt and pepper to taste and the cheese - pulse to combine. Add in the lemon juice and let it puree a second to thin it out a bit.
We used the pesto in its thicker form, on top of lentil meatballs. If you want the sauce thinner you can add more olive oil or thin it out with water or chicken stock. If you are using this for pasta, toss the pasta in the thick pesto, and then slowly add pasta water to the mixture until the sauce is your desired thickness.
Variations
Substitute the following for watercress to make a pesto: basil, spinach, mint, arugula, or any light green that you like - use about 2 cups worth of either of these greens (or a combination, like spinach basil), and use 1/4 cup of some sort of toasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, slivered almonds). Follow the directions above to complete the pesto.
This week for a vegetarian "meatball" recipe we made a watercress pesto - and by we, I mean Steve. It was incredibly simple and tasted amazing - a nice variation on the regular basil pesto that we've all used before.
Chunky Watercress Pesto
One bunch watercress
1/4 cup toasted walnuts
salt/pepper
olive oil - about 1/4 cup
1/4 cup parmigiana cheese
1 tbsp lemon juice
Directions: Thoroughly wash the watercress and spin dry. Place the watercress and toasted walnuts in a food processor and let them go until completely combined and chopped up finely. While the food processor is on, slowly stream in the olive oil. The 1/4 cup is just an approximation on how much to use. I don't like to add too much oil to my pesto in an effort to keep it healthier. The pesto should be completely combined but still pretty thick at this point. Add in salt and pepper to taste and the cheese - pulse to combine. Add in the lemon juice and let it puree a second to thin it out a bit.
We used the pesto in its thicker form, on top of lentil meatballs. If you want the sauce thinner you can add more olive oil or thin it out with water or chicken stock. If you are using this for pasta, toss the pasta in the thick pesto, and then slowly add pasta water to the mixture until the sauce is your desired thickness.
Variations
Substitute the following for watercress to make a pesto: basil, spinach, mint, arugula, or any light green that you like - use about 2 cups worth of either of these greens (or a combination, like spinach basil), and use 1/4 cup of some sort of toasted nuts (walnuts, pine nuts, slivered almonds). Follow the directions above to complete the pesto.
This totally made me hungry. yummy yummy pesto!!
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