Pick a Peck of Pestos!

Pesto...Does that word sound difficult to you? To make, I mean?

If it does, fear not.

It is so easy, so yummy, so forgiving, to freezable, just so versatile, you'll be addicted!

Now, to make good Pesto, you need a few key ingredients, most of them the freshest you can find. No canned stuff here.

You'll also need a couple of key appliances and tools, but most people have these items at their disposal, so no worries, nothing too exotic.

Here goes... Pesto perfection is just around the bend...

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Pesto is traditionally made with Basil, Pine Nuts, Extra Virgin olive Oil, Grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and garlic.

I do not happen to like Parmigiano cheese and LOVE Pecorino Romano, so I substitute that.

BUT! Nowadays, tradition is thrown to the wind, and you can make Pestos out of just about anything! AS long as it's high quality and fresh.

So... Regular Pesto has the above ingredients,

but you can sub out the Basil for Spinach, Parsley, Arugula, Mint, Sun Dried Tomatoes,Cilantro, you get the picture.

You can switch out the Pine Nuts for Walnuts, Seeds, Almonds, No nuts, etc... I wouldn't use Cashews, too sweet and too much oil.

Don't switch out the EVOO. It's too fantastic to switch.

Switch out the cheese for any hard grating cheese. Not soft cheeses. Stick to Romano, Parm, Ricotta Salata etc...

Garlic... there is no suitable substitute in my opinion. I know... spoken like a true Italian.

So, here is the Master Recipe.

2 cups Basil

1/2 - 3/4 cup Olive Oil

1/2 cup Pine nuts

1 cup grated cheese

2 cloves garlic

Whiz this around in a FOOD PROCESSOR on pulse for a minute or so.

When it starts to turn opaque, you can now freeze the pesto in an ice cube tray and use it to flavor soups, use later for pasta, almost anything!

I use about 2 TBS for a pound of cooked Pasta, and toss it around with a little of the pasta cooking water. I freeze the rest for later use.

It's also great spread on bread, sprinkled with cheese and broiled like garlic bread!

Don't be alarmed when you notice that after it's frozen, it turns black in the basil version.

That's what happens when basil leaves are bruised. It will still taste great.

Enjoy!

Goat Cheese Appetizer

Our French toast dinner was awesome last night with the Brioche I made.

I even cooked it out back in my patio kitchen. So much cooler!

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I forgot that I have a log of Chevre Goat Cheese from Trader Joes in my fridge that I need to use, and since my tomatoes are finally ripe, I am going to make my families favorite,

favorite, favorite appetizer tomorrow night.

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I already have a bunch of onion chopped, so I just throw about a cup and a half into a bowl,

Dice up about 5 tomatoes with my Nicer Dicer

Chop a handful of parsley

and about 4 cloves of garlic.

Mix them all together.

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Take the cheese carefully out of the package so it all stays intact

and place it in a stone with sides or in a pan with sides.

pour the tomato mixture over the entire log of cheese.

Bake @ 300 for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is soft and spreadable. or microwave it for 2 minutes.

***

Slice two long baguettes into cute little slices.

Slather on the cheese/tomato concoction and eat!

YUM. YUM.

Go on... tell me you love it...

Easy Sauce

Quick Easy Pasta Sauce ... Revisited.

I heard Joy Behar from the View say "I don't get why everyone buys jarred Pasta Sauce, when it's so easy to make at home!"

I completely concur!

I am SUCH Sauce Snob it is unbelievable. Here's how far it goes. I won't even eat Pasta at other people's house unless I know it's homemade. I will just pass on the Pasta or only eat the pasta plain. It's true. It's a curse my family bestowed on all of us, (my cousins and my bro and me) many years ago.

You wanna know something funny? My HUSBAND is now a sauce snob... and a cheese snob, and a bread snob and a pizza snob.

Before you start commenting to me how it's okay to buy the jarred junk, and how good it tastes, and how convenient it is and all, let me just say... Fine! Eat what you want! No skin off my nose.

BUT... IF YOU WANT TO MAKE SOMETHING THAT IS FREEZABLE, DELICIOUS, AND YOU KNOW EVERY SINGLE THING THAT GOES INTO IT, AND HOW LONG IT HAS BEEN SITTING IN YOUR FRIDGE...

Make you own sauce.

Please...

Just try it.

Okay another rant... NO ADDING SUGAR! What IS that?

Makes NO sense to me.

Buy good quality canned, roma tomatoes or do your own from the vine, and sugar is not needed.

Don't over think cooking.

Keep it simple, fresh as possible, and in season, and everything else will fall into place.

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Quick Sauce

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2 large cans tomatoes

(no seasonings added, NOT sauce, just whole or crushed tomatoes, no salt, nothing!)

1 small onion chopped

4 cloves garlic chopped

olive oil

If you bought whole tomatoes, crush them with your hands or whiz them in a blender for 2 seconds or put a hand held stick blender on them for a second.

Put some Olive Oil into a pot and let it get hot... add onions and saute them until translucent

lower heat and add garlic and toss it around for one minute

add the tomatoes

stir

add salt to taste

add pepper to taste

Only add herbs at the very end, whether fresh or dried.

Cook for 1/2 hour on low heat, covered.

THAT'S IT!

If you want meat sauce, just brown it up and add it at the beginning.

Put meatballs in with the sauce at the beginning.

It is very easy, tasty and fresh!

Also economical!

I buy the canned tomatoes with Italian names or the words POMODORO on it.

Pomodoro is Tomato in Italian.

Product of Italy best too.

If you have fresh grown tomatoes at home, just peel them, and squish them and do the same.

Enjoy...

and don't get mad because I dissed jarred sauce.

My friends of Latino descent are mad that I used to buy pre done taco shells,

and buy beans in a can. Every nationality has it's "ick" factor.

Jarred Sauce is mine.

Ciao, Ciao!

Johnny's favorite Pasta

My little guy, Johnny's, Birthday is coming up in June. No I didn't forget about William, but his birthday dinner choice has already been blogged about, but his Birthday is this weekend.

Okay, so back on task...

This morning on the drive to school, our topic was choices for what my men wanted me to make for their Birthday dinners.

They get to choose whatever they want, even if its all side dishes.

So Johnny pipes up and says

"Mama, you know I love being Italian, and I just want a light pasta with, you know,with the Olive Oil and Zucchini" Yes, I swooned.

He was so grown up about it too.

He even used his little fingers to show me the sprinkling of Romano Cheese he wanted on it too.

When I asked what sides he wanted he says "Just a salad with a creamy Caesar dressing, and come good garlic bread... that's all, pasta has to stay simple... right?"

I almost died. He listens when I speak!!!

He also loves to cook, and is my official "al dente" tester.

So here is Johnny's Zucchini Pasta Recipe

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1 lb pasta, cooked al dente in salted water, drained and sprinkled with olive oil

While pasta is cooking

Slice into 1/4 inch disks, 3 Zucchini and lightly salt them.

In a frying pan or on a baking sheet, layers the slices and cook them in Olive Oil (brush them if cooking in the oven under broiler or at high heat in center rack) until lightly browned.

To the Pasta after it's cooked, add olive oil so it doesn't stick and sprinkle with grated cheese and freshly cracked black pepper

Pour into a large serving bowl and place the cooked zucchini on top of the Pasta,

Say grace and dig in!

My favorite pasta to use here is Vermicelli, or angel hair. It cooks very quickly so do the Zucchini first.

Mangia Bene!

Ciao!

Dinner tonight!

Tonight dinner... yes I'm cooking... is Costco's yummy Spinach and Mozzarella Ravioli, Salad, and garlic bread.

YUM!!!

TOMATO BASIL SQUARES

TWO CANS PILLSBURY CRESCENT ROLLS

1 8 OZ BALL OF MOZZARELLA CHEESE

4 ROMA TOMATOES

1 BUNCH OF FRESH BASIL

2 CLOVES FRESH GARLIC, PRESSED OR FINELY CHOPPED

ROMANO OR PARMIGIANNO GRATED CHEESE

(WE JUST HAD AN EARTHQUAKE 2 SECONDS AGO... ) (REALLY)

WHEW...

Okay, back to the recipe...

I hate earthquakes, really hate them...

Spread out dough all over a stone or sheet pan, covering it.

Seam edges together by pressing firmly

Mix together grated Mozzarella, romano, garlic, chopped basil, and add one tsp mayo.

Mix well. Reserve 1 cup of cheese mixture.

Evenly spread cheese mixture all over the dough, making sure all surface is covered well with cheese.

Thinly slice tomatoes and lay them out on the cheese.

Sprinkle remaining 1 cup of cheese over the tomatoes.

Bake for 15 minutes at 400 degrees.

Cut and eat!

Your taste buds will sing!

Enjoy!

Pizza Heaven tonight!

I practiced what I preached today.

I used whatever I had in my pantry and fridge to make dinner and prep for the week.

I'm done.

They ate Pizza today. Homemade crust "white" pizzas.

What's a "white" pizza?

It's a pizza without red sauce. When I make pizza, I rarely use sauce.

Today I saute'd up some thinly sliced eggplant, onions, red pepper, and scallions.

William and I made the foccacia crusts (enough for 5 pizzas) and gathered whatever cheeses we had in the fridge.

So we ended up with Feta, Sharp Provolone, Swiss and a little Mozzarella.

I also had some cooked chicken breast from a mini prep on Wed.

After the dough rose for 2 hours, we spread all the dough over 5 stones.

Drizzled all of them with Olive Oil and began to build our pizzas.

2 were for tonights dinner with a huge salad.

2 are for later in the week, and 1 was left as plain foccacia, so I could make their lunch sandwiches with it for the week.

2 batches of dough makes 4 pizza normally, but I like to make thin crust pizza so I got 5 out of them.

2 were BBQ chicken Pizza, with a sprinkle of mixed cheese

2 were Feta, onion, eggplant and red pepper, with a sprinkle of Pecorino Romano.

MMMMMM....

We had one of each tonight, and later on in the week we will have the other two. We will just need to reheat them for a few minutes and make a quick salad.

I got all my onions, peppers, cukes, celery and potatoes chopped, and I boil 8 eggs for egg salad later in the week, or just if the boys want a quick snack packed with protein.

I pre shredded some cheeses for fajitas or quesadillas this week,

and I cooked off some chicken breast for another meal yet to be determined. It all depends on what I find that's lovely at the grocery store tomorrow.

Now it's time for bed. "The Friday Night Knitting Club" book is waiting for me on my nightstand.

Happy Cooking!

Let me know if you are able to prep this week, and what it was! I want to learn too!

Ciao for now!