A Passion For Pesto

I was pregnant with our first daughter and nearing the end of my allowed time for plane travel so my husband, Mark, and I flew to southern California for a brief visit with his lifelong friend, Carrie, and her (then) husband. 

As dinnertime approached, they picked huge handfuls of basil from their tiny garden, gathered pine nuts, fresh garlic, extra virgin olive oil, and grated Parmesan, and measured everything into a food processor. They cooked spaghetti and added a large dollop of pesto to each plateful. The brilliant green color of this unusual sauce seemed quite odd for food, but the intense, multi-layered flavor immediately stole our hearts and tastebuds.

That was almost 26 years ago. Early in our marriage, Mark and I never served spaghetti without pesto - even after our young daughters began to eat 'regular food.' In fact, I never made a red sauce for our spaghetti until one of the girls came home from eating dinner at a friend's house and mildly complained about how odd it was to have red sauce, rather than pesto, with pasta.

Our love of pesto has continued through the decades. Each summer, I fill our freezer with as much of this lovely stuff as possible with basil from our small garden. And each winter, usually sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I mournfully serve our last bit of frozen, garden-fresh pesto before I begin to purchase packaged basil to carry us through until the next growing season. (The winter light in our house doesn't seem quite strong enough to sustain healthy basil plants.)

Today, I satisfied my pesto craving again and made a small batch for dinner. Paired with whole grain pasta, some cooked chicken, and a green salad, we can dream of summer as we make our way through winter.

Simple Pesto Sauce

2 cups fresh basil leaves with stems removed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup grated/shredded Parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic
3 tablespoons of pine nuts or walnuts
       (VOE - we generally use walnuts because we 
                                 always have them on hand)
                                                              
freshly ground pepper to taste

Place all ingredients in food processor and puree. Serve 1-2 tablespoons per plate of pasta. Cooked chicken, shrimp, or tuna can add flavor and 'bulk' to your meal.

VOE - Pesto freezes, thaws, and re-freezes exceptionally well. Fill an ice cube tray with the sauce and you'll have an instant flavor boost available for all of your favorite dishes.

Lisa's Garlic Chicken Pizza

A number of years ago, on a Christmas Eve when both of our teenage daughters wanted a little extra time with friends, we ordered a take-and-bake garlic chicken pizza rather than making our own dinner. It's been a favorite of our family's ever since and remains a Christmas Eve tradition.

But that doesn't mean we restrict our orders to the holiday season. And as of last night, nor does it mean we have to order a garlic chicken pizza in order to enjoy eating one. That's because I set out to recreate the signature garlic cream sauce in my kitchen. We quickly proclaimed the experiment a close approximation to the original we had grown to love.

Before I made the cream sauce, I removed a pizza crust from the freezer, diced some cooked chicken, minced several green onions and sliced a handful of cherry tomatoes moments after I plucked them from our front garden. Then I mashed cloves from half of a garlic bulb through my garlic press and began to make a basic white sauce.

I looked at a coupon from the pizza store and discovered they use three cheeses on their garlic chicken pizza - although there was no mention of which cheeses. I pulled out some lowfat cream cheese and grated Parmesan to add flavor and depth to my sauce. It worked beautifully. Enjoy:

Lisa's Garlic Chicken Pizza

Serves 2-3

1 pre-made pizza crust

cloves from half a bulb of garlic

4 green onions, minced

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, diced

6-8 cherry tomatoes, diced

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 cup of lowfat milk

2 tablespoons lowfat cream cheese

1/4 cup Parmesan

salt to taste

additional Parmesan for topping

Over medium high heat, melt butter. Stir in flour until smooth. Raise heat to high and add milk, stirring constantly until it becomes thick like gravy. Return to medium high heat and stir in cream cheese so it is fully incorporated. Add garlic, Parmesan cheese and salt to taste. Allow to cool and thicken further, for about 20 minutes.

Spread sauce across pizza crust. Top with chicken, green onions, and tomatoes. Sprinkle more Parmesan over the top and then bake according to crust instructions. Right before removing from oven, set under broiler until top is golden brown.

VOE - We're try to go easy on dietary fats, but feel free to add several handfuls of grated mozzarella to the top if you want. We suspect that may be the 'third cheese' used by our favorite pizza chain.

Artichokes + Garlic = Heaven

Inspiration can strike at the oddest times. As I shopped with a friend in a culinary store, we happened upon 'Artichoke Garlic Sauce,' and I decided to create my own version the next time I played in my kitchen. That time was this afternoon, and the result was smooth and seductive with a bit of bite and chunkiness.

This combination is more of a spread, but the flavors are unmistakable. My taste testers and I tried some atop buttered bread slices that were broiled crisp, on whole wheat crackers, and right off of the spoon. We also thought it would make a good pizza 'sauce,' or a sandwich spread paired with provolone cheese and romaine. A glass of Chardonnay is a perfect complement. See what you think of this Artichoke Garlic Spread:

3-4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
6 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tablespoons butter
1 can artichoke hearts, diced fine
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Saute garlic in olive oil over medium high heat, until slightly browned. Add two tablespoons butter and stir until melted. Add artichoke hearts, lemon juice, and pepper. Combine thoroughly and cook uncovered, over medium heat, for 15-20 minutes or until extra liquid has evaporated. This should yield approximately 3/4 cups. Set aside.

Put half of this mixture in a food processor with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, and puree. Remove puree from processor and stir in remaining artichoke mixture. Spread and enjoy. Generously covers five large slices of French bread.