Showing posts with label pesto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pesto. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

jamie's food revolution: broccoli and pesto pasta


i used my first recipe out of the jamie oliver book i got for my birthday: jamie's food revolution

the recipe: broccoli and pesto tagliatelle. except i used fresh fettucine from a local italian deli, not tagliatelle. i recommend fresh pasta: tastes better, cooks quicker.

the recipe calls for pesto. we had some in our freezer that we made up in the summer, but if you don't have any pesto on hand, you can follow jamie's pest recipe here.

what you need:
- 1 large potato or a few small ones
- 1 head of broccoli
- fresh basil
- 1 lb pasta (jamie calls for dried tagliatelle)
- 1/4 cup + pesto (i used a bit more than 1/3 cup)
- 3 ounces roughly of parmesan cheese - freshly grated


what to do:
- wash & peel potato(s); shave thinly using either a peeler or the back of your grater that has that one blade you never know what to use for (until now. potatoes)
- cut the broccoli florets off; peel the stalk, then slice up thinly
- pick off your basil leaves, rinse, chop up roughly
- bring to boil a large pot of salted water, add your pasta & broccoli stalks
- 2 minutes before pasta is cooked (see your pasta instructions), add potato slices and rest of the broccoli
- once pasta is cooked, drain everything, and keep some of the cooking water aside. return pasta etc to pot
- add to pot half of the basil leaves, pesto, and half the parmesan
- stir it up, adding some of the cooking water to thin it up if the sauce is thick
- taste it and add more seasoning (pesto or salt & pepper) to taste
- serve with fresh basil and parmesan on top

enjoy!

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

pizza + beer

i was walking slightly aimlessly at the farmer's market on saturday when i passed the 'knead some dough' stall and decided i wanted some fresh pasta. this is when i noticed a tiny sign on the display case reading 'pizza dough: $4,' which made me all excited. don't ask me why. i really don't know. so i bought the stuff - without asking any questions about how to use it, how long to bake at, etc etc.


then i had to deal with this pizza dough sitting in my fridge. so i invited my friend melody over and we created amazingness. we made our own pesto (basil+roasted cashews+garlic+parmesan+olive oil+salt) to spread instead of the typical tomato-ey pizza sauce. then we added cooked chicken, marinated artichoke hearts (from costco - they're freaking awesome), leftover roasted cashews we didn't use in the pesto, basil leaves, and a mixture of shredded cheeses (havarti, cheddar, parmesan). we baked it at 400 F, and probably ended up leaving it in for 25 minutes? maybe longer. the crust was 'golden brown' and the cheese was all melty. for the occasion (yes, pizza is an occasion), i bought some domestic beer to drink with the pizza. i tried some bowen island honey brown lager. it was delicious paired with the exceptionally greasy pizza.