Tag

pesto

Savory Arugula Pesto Scones

written by Ali

It’s Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) time again, which means I’m making recipes using up the bounty of the season, like these savory arugula pesto scones. The CSA actually started up last week – I just wasn’t quite prepared for it. I think we started a full two weeks earlier than last year, plus, I’ve been going to the farmer’s market every week since it opened. As a result, it was full out veggie abundance.

So, a quick roundup of what’s been in our basket these last two weeks: asparagus, artichokes, arugula, collard greens, kale, radishes, turnips, kohlrabi, lettuce, broccolini, and bok choi. I feel a little like I’m swimming in greens. We’ve been able to stay on top of most of the veggies – lots of frittatas and stir fry going on. The arugula has been the most daunting of the produce – I’m the only one who eats it in our house and the stuff is down right prolific. Fortunately, I’m a huge fan of arugula pesto. It’s so easy to make and uses up quite a bit of arugula at a time.

This week, I decided to try something a bit different with my arugula pesto and made savory arugula pesto scones. These are a lovely pick me up first thing in the morning with a strong cup of coffee. They also make a great side for a salad for dinner. Plus, these pair really well with a robust chardonnay. Just saying.

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Savory Arugula Pesto Scones

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup arugula pesto

Arugula pesto

1 cup tightly packed arugula
1/4 cup walnuts
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon olive oil

Instructions

Savory Arugula Pesto Scones

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and incorporate until the butter is in pea size pieces. Add the eggs, the heavy cream, and the pesto, and gently fold into the dry ingredients.
Turn the dough out onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Gently pat into a circle. Flatten a bit and then score to make eight scones.
Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the scones are golden brown.
Serves 8. Enjoy!

Arugula Pesto

Combine the arugula, walnuts, and parmesan cheese in a food processor and blender. Chop or blend until the ingredients are all finely chopped. Add the olive oil and combine.

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June 11, 2018 0 comment

Farmer's Market Quick and Easy Salad Vegetarian

Israeli Couscous, Arugula Pesto Spring Salad

written by Ali

There’s nothing quite so wonderful in spring as a hearty salad, like this Israeli Couscous, Arugula Pesto Spring Salad. I’m in a little bit of limbo right now about whether or not we are going to be moving. Three scenarios are going on in our lives – one is that we stay where we are, one is that we move on the other side of the Portland Metro area, and the other is that we move to the Oregon coast. None of these are bad options and all have some very definite pros when it comes to cooking, food, and resourcing ingredients. But the problem is that it is spring – truly and officially spring, and what I really want to do is start planning and planting a garden. However, I don’t want to drag pots of plants with me when and if we move, so I’m (reluctantly) holding off.

What does this have to do with this Israeli Couscous, Arugula Pesto Spring Salad? Well, not much I suppose, except that I’m desperately craving fresh, spring veggies, and would prefer radishes directly from my garden, but will make do with the ones I found at Whole Foods. That said, if you’ve never planted a radish, and you have a bit of gardening space, plant some radishes immediately. The round orbs of radish will start peeking through the ground in about 45 or so days and there’s something supremely decadent about rinsing off a radish in the hose and eating it right there, whole, out of the garden.

If you haven’t cooked with Israeli couscous before, I encourage you to try it. It’s a slightly larger version of regular couscous, but is also made with semolina flour. It’s a bit toothier – has a bit more chew to it than regular couscous and is fabulous in salads. You might see it labeled as pearl couscous or Israeli couscous. In this recipe, I toasted it a bit first and then cooked it, which gives it a nuttier flavor.

I recommend either paneer cheese or haloumi cheese for this Israeli couscous, arugula pesto spring salad. Both cheeses toast, so you’ll want to take the extra time to get a light brown crust on the cheese. Trust me, it’s worth it.

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Israeli Couscous, Arugula Pesto Spring Salad

Ingredients

Arugula Pesto

1 tightly packed cup of arugula
1 garlic clove
½ cup walnuts
Juice from ½ lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt

Salad

2 – 3 cups arugula
1 cup Israeli couscous or pearl couscous
1 1/2 cup water
1 package paneer or haloumi cheese
2 tablespoons olive oil
Pinch salt
1 bunch radishes

Instructions

Heat 1 tablespoon of the olive oil in a small saucepan. Add the couscous and toast, stirring occasionally for five to seven minutes. Add the water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer, cover, and cook for ten minutes or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and set aside.
Prepare the pesto by either hand chopping the arugula, garlic clove, and walnuts or processing in a food processor. Add the lemon, olive oil, and salt to combine.
For the salad, chop the radishes into slices and set aside. Slice the cheese into cubes. Preheat a cast iron or non-stick pan and add 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Sprinkle the cheese with a pinch of salt and then toast the cheese on at least two sides until light brown (about 5 minutes per side). Remove from heat and set aside.
To assemble the salad, start by layering the arugula on serving plates. Add the Israeli couscous on top, and then divide the cheese and radishes on each salad. Spoon the pesto over the salads and enjoy!
(If you are making these for lunch, and have 1 pint mason jars on hand, layer the other direction. Add arugula to the bottom of the jar first. Add cheese and radishes next and then the Israeli couscous and finally the arugula.)

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This post is linked up to Meat Free Mondays at Tinned Tomatoes.

And to #Recipe of the Week

And #CookBlogShare hosted this week by Hijacked by Twins.

And What’s Cooking Wednesday hosted by Jess Bee Creates

March 27, 2017 6 comments

Lunch Recipes Vegetarian

Pasta in Pesto Cream Sauce

written by Ali

My pasta in pesto cream sauce recipe was created in response to a serious craving I’ve been having lately for Noodles & Company’s Pesto Cavatappi. The problem is, I know darn well that the minute I go and order pesto cavatappi and then actually taste it, I’m going to be disappointed. It will be too salty or too bland or too not what I remember from the many years ago I lived in the Denver area and Noodles & Company opened up in Lakewood and my ex and I would go there for dinner every weekend.

Part of the problem with food memories is that in memory, everything looks so tasty. However, in the past ten years or so, I’ve greatly reduced the amount of sugar and salt in my diet, and I am starting to suspect that what made things tasty before I did this was probably the sugar and salt. Now, the same ingredients make things taste “not right”.

In some cases, my solution has been to create the dish I think I remember, which is what I’ve done with this pasta in pesto cream sauce. I would love for it to have been cavatappi in pesto cream sauce, but unfortunately, I couldn’t find cavatappi noodles anywhere. I settled for orecchiette, though any pasta would be fine.

I had a bit of basil and some tomatoes left in the garden, so it seemed appropriate to finish out the last few days of the official summertime with pesto and tomatoes. I used oyster mushrooms, but any mushroom would work. Though this has a cream sauce, it freezes just fine – when you reheat it, just be sure to give it a good stir before you eat.

Pasta in Pesto Cream Sauce
Serves 4

Pesto Cream Sauce
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup half and half or heavy cream
Splash white wine (optional)
¼ cup pesto

Pasta and Toppings
½ package pasta (penne, orecchiette, or similar)
1 pint cherry tomatoes
½ pound mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh chopped flat leaf parsley
1 tablespoon olive oil
½ cup parmesan cheese
Salt to taste

Boil water for the pasta in a large pot. Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.

While the pasta cooks, heat the olive oil in a non-stick or cast iron pan. Add the mushrooms and cook until they are soft. Add the parsley and turn off the heat. Set aside.

To make the cream sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. When butter is melted, incorporate the flour a bit at a time, whisking with each addition. When all flour has been incorporated, cook for a minute, whisking the entire time. Add the half and half or cream and continue to whisk and cook over low heat for about 5-7 minutes (or until sauce is thickened). Take the sauce off the heat and add the pesto.

Plate the pasta in four bowls. Add the toppings to each bowl. Pour the cream sauce over each bowl and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Add salt to taste. Enjoy!

September 19, 2016 0 comment

Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes Vegetarian

Pesto, Tomato, and Mozzarella Pasta Salad

written by Ali

I’m humming On the Road Again as I type. This week, I’ve only seen my desk for two days and next week will be the same. What I’ve seen instead are meeting rooms, the Capital Mall in Salem, and one of the most-overpriced hotel rooms I’ve stayed in in a long time. I’ve also seen a lot of my car, listened to four episodes of NPR’s Ask Me Another, one episode of This American Life, and one episode of Radio Lab. In short, I couldn’t wait to get home to see my husband, the dog, the cats, and my comfortable bed. I also couldn’t wait to get home to cook up some of the abundance that’s been developing in my little urban container garden.

I planted four tomato plants this year and three basil plants, two Sweet Basil plants (I’m guessing these are Genovese Basil plants – they are the ones that Trader Joe’s sells) and one Spicy Bush Basil plant. The basil took a while to warm up to the idea of growing, but now that it has, I have a plethora of basil on my hands. In past years, I’ve used my handy Cuisinart to create pesto cubes that I’ve frozen, but one of my Cuisinart parts didn’t survive the move to the new house, and I just haven’t gotten around to try to figure out if I can easily replace the part. So – lots of Basil, no food processor, and a serious longing for pesto. Fortunately, I ran across a recipe for How to Make Pesto Like an Italian Grandmother from 101 Cookbooks (one of my all-time favorite blogs – honestly, probably the first cooking blog I ever read regularly).

I decided last night to make two-days-worth of a simple pasta salad. After a long drive home from Bend, Oregon, I retreated to the garden, harvested several bunches of both the Spicy Bush Basil and the Genovese Basil and started chopping. Hand chopped pesto is a lot easier than I thought it would be. I don’t have a mezzaluna, so used our sharpest kitchen knife and just chopped, chopped, chopped. I skipped the garlic cloves (I had face-to-face meetings with people in the afternoon – didn’t want to offend anyone with raw garlic breath), used a little bit of parmesan cheese and a handful of pine nuts. I chopped and chopped some more. When I was finished, it wasn’t the prettiest pesto ever (basil oxidizes so quickly), but it was the best smelling and tasting basil I’ve ever made. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to creating a pesto that I ate on our honeymoon in Rome – and I have the fondest memories of that pesto: it came from a corner grocery store and we ate it with handmade ravioli in the kitchen of the weird little villa hotel room we were staying at in a tucked away corner of the city.

This is less recipe than more a few suggestions about how to make a very simple, but very delicious meal.

Pesto, Tomato, and Mozzarella Pasta Salad

Dried or fresh pasta
Several handfuls of basil
A handful of pine nuts
Several large pinches of freshly grated parmesan cheese
Tomatoes
Fresh mozzarella (in water, though you could also use regular mozzarella or even more parmesan or another cheese all together)
Olive oil

Boil a pasta of your choice using as much dried pasta as servings you are planning to prepare. I used bow tie pasta since it’s what I had on hand. Chop up a tomato or two. Make the pesto by chopping up basil leaves, adding pine nuts and chopping, adding parmesan and chopping (see Heidi Swanson’s lovely full recipe here). Add the pesto to your pasta. Add tomatoes and cheese. Drizzle with olive oil.

I heated this up for just a minute in the microwave at work, just to take the chill off the pasta and the pesto, but not so long to fully melt the mozzarella.

Enjoy!

July 14, 2016 2 comments

Farmer's Market Lunch Recipes

Pea Shoot Pesto

written by Ali

I first learned about pea shoots a few years ago – it seems that they were all the rage for a while on food blogs and cooking shows. I have to confess though that I hadn’t actually eaten a pea shoot until this past weekend, as I could never stand the thought of pinching off any part of a pea plant that might produce a pea. We were at the farmer’s market, and one of the vendors had hearty bunches of pea shoots for $2.00 a bunch. I had to have some. I took them home, washed one shoot off and nibbled – pure pea concentrated. I was in spring overload.

I’ll pesto just about any green you put in front of me, so I had to make pea shoot pesto. I saved about a quarter of the pea shoot bundle for a salad – pea shoot pesto, pea shoots, asparagus, assorted micro-greens, and hard-boiled eggs have made the perfect mid-day meal to get me back on track for eating real food. This makes me think it would have been worth it to sacrifice a few pea pods just to eat the pea shoots – it’s that good.

Pea Shoot Pesto

1 bunch pea shoots
12 basil leaves
2 cloves garlic
½ cup pine nuts
½ cup parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ cup olive oil

Combine ingredients from pea shoots through lemon juice in a food processor and process for a few pulses. Add olive oil slowly and continue to process until the pesto is a smooth paste. Pesto can be frozen for several months.

April 12, 2016 0 comment

Lunch Recipes Salad

Not a Niçoise Salad

written by Ali

This week, I had a serious craving for a robust salad for my lunch. I also wanted smoked salmon, but then became enticed by a smoked trout I found at our local grocery. I’m a fan of a mix of interesting vegetables in a salad and had created what I thought was a Niçoise salad last summer, complete with roasted potatoes, salty kalamata olives, and blanched baby green beans. After doing some research today, I learned that this isn’t strictly a Niçoise salad. So I’ll own up to it not being such a thing and let it stand on its own for just being a great lunch salad.

The smoked trout was a bit too teriyaki-tasting for me and clashed a bit with the pesto dressing. I think either canned tuna or baked salmon would have been a better choice, so have included those as options here

Pesto Lemon Dressing
Easily dresses 3 salads

3 tablespoons pesto
¼ cup olive oil
Juice from a small lemon
½ teaspoon salt
A few grinds of fresh pepper

Combine all ingredients in a small jar, cover with a tight lid, and shake vigorously.

Not a Niçoise Salad
Serves 3

3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and cut in half
1 package smoked steelhead trout, smoked salmon, or one can canned tuna, or a small fillet of baked salmon
One head endive
One small head romaine lettuce
5 or 6 radishes, sliced
½ cup kalamata olives
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
6 or 7 baby potatoes, quartered and roasted (see below)
Drizzle the baby potatoes with 2 teaspoons of olive oil and roast in an oven at 400 degrees for thirty minutes, stirring half way through.

Divide ingredients among three plates or containers. Dress with the pesto lemon dressing.

January 19, 2016 0 comment