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.

Not Exactly Cupcakes - Homemade Pizza

It has been awhile since I offered a new cupcake recipe to the blog. Baking is more difficult with a broken bone chip in my left arm from falling two weeks ago, but I hope to return to baking mode soon. In the meantime, I thought you might enjoy seeing the dynamite vegetarian pizza that my husband, Mark, and I created last evening.

With our basil plant growing out of control, I had every intention of slathering some fresh pesto across the ready-made crust we purchased on Saturday. I never seem to lose interest in this luscious sauce that we've made for 25 years - especially when the basil just came from the garden - but Mark thought otherwise. So I rummaged through the cupboard and found a large can of crushed tomatoes in heavy puree, which could serve as sauce if I added seasonings.

Then I had him open the cans of tomato and artichoke hearts because I can't use a manual can-opener at the moment (this is the first time in my life I've ever thought about buying an electric opener, but only in passing!). Mark diced a small zucchini, and the artichoke hearts into bite-sized pieces. He minced some onion and garlic and sauteed them lightly as I headed to the garden for some fresh basil leaves to use as garnish.

I covered the crust with tomatoes and sprinkled oregano generously across the sauce. Zucchini and artichoke heart slices came next, followed by the garlic and onion. I nearly covered everything with a large handful of fresh basil leaves and, finally, we laid strips of sliced mozzarella across the top. Seven minutes on bake and 3 more on broil yielded a healthy and satisfying dinner. Thank heaven Mark was there to transport the pan from oven to counter and cut our large slices!

VOE - We like red onion on our pizza because it seems to add some extra sweetness. Another nice topping for homemade pizza is black olives. Shrimp is a nice add-on too, especially with pesto :)

Basil Blue Cupcakes

I am clearly on a sweet vs. savory kick these days, after falling head over heels for the tamarita in Monica Bhide's new and widely praised cookbook, Modern Spice; and then stopping short of icing the sweet-savory blackberry sage muffins that emerged from my kitchen last week so I wouldn't overpower their delicate flavors.

With blueberries from our farmer's market and basil from a pot in our front garden, I decided to take another shot at this kind of culinary blend today. After all, what two flavors better exemplify the early summer harvest - particularly in the Midwest?

The result is Basil Blue Cupcakes. Blueberries burst open on your tongue with each bite, while basil simultaneously adds an unexpected bite and a clean, crisp, character to the cupcake and olive oil adds a touch more sweetness. Top that off - literally - with a sweet-savory icing that adds more blueberry and basil flavor + a healthy dose of confectioner's sugar, for a pretty healthy treat that provides great tastes of the season.

Basil Blue Cupcakes
Makes 12-15

1/2 cup rolled oats, ground fine

1 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

1/2 cup olive oil

2 eggs

1/2 cup yogurt

3 heaping tablespoons fresh basil, stems removed, and minced fine

3/4 cup blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients thoroughly, except blueberries. Fold in blueberries. Pour batter into muffin papers and then bake 23-25 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from pan. Remove muffin papers 10-15 minutes later.

When completely cooled, add basil blue icing:

2 tablespoons butter, softened

2 tablespoons low fat cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon blueberries, smashed with the back of a spoon

1 1/2 tablespoons basil, minced fine

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Combine butter and cream cheese and then add all other ingredients, stirring well. Spread generously on each cupcake.