Not quite pesto my dears...
By on January 26, 2009 8:44 AM
All that talk the other week about family traditions and succulent roast chook on a Sunday evening. Well it's way too hot here to cook let alone turn the oven on for a couple of hours, so last nights dinner was quick, green and ready in fifteen minutes. The added bonus is that it got the thumbs up from one of my two children (Hoover of course) who has now dubbed this meal 'yummy green spaghetti'. I think the child is showing all the signs of becoming a world famous food editor don't you think? Free magazine subscriptions here I come!
So in my haphazard kind of way I did a quick inventory of the pantry and fridge which was looking a bit thin by late Sunday afternoon. At my immediate disposal was - a bunch of fresh basil, a lemon, garlic, and a packet of organic spaghetti, oh and a wedge of grana padano. Milk and toilet paper are often overlooked in this household, but we are always fully stocked when it comes to the cheese department.
Hence, you do not need to be a rocket scientist to know that you are 'almost' staring pesto in the face here. I was all out of pine nuts but I did have some ground almonds. Call it genius or sheer laziness (or a bit of both), but I quickly announced to my ravenous tribe that dinner tonight was going to be 'not quite pesto and spaghetti' and if they were lucky there may even be dessert.
Not quite Pesto
Recipe source - one desperate and lazy Ms.Gourmet
In the past I have made pesto with basil, parsley and coriander. When I do have pine nuts in the pantry I lightly toast them first to bring out the nutty flavour before blending them with the other ingredients. If you don't have pine nuts you can use ground almonds and if you don't want to use lemon just leave it out. We prefer grana padano in this house, but if you prefer parmesan then by all means use that.
Ingredients
Bunch of fresh basil
3 cloves of garlic
Zest and juice of a lemon
4 tbsp of ground almonds
6 tbsp of Grano Padano (we love our cheese)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Cook your spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Place basil leaves, garlic, lemon zest and juice, ground almonds, grana padano and olive oil in the food processor and blend. You decide how fine or course you want the pesto to be.
3. Once the pesto is done season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. When spaghetti is cooked drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water.
5. Stir pesto through the spaghetti adding a little of the reserved cooking water if you want to loosen the pesto a bit.
6. Serve with freshly ground pepper and more cheese of course.
So in my haphazard kind of way I did a quick inventory of the pantry and fridge which was looking a bit thin by late Sunday afternoon. At my immediate disposal was - a bunch of fresh basil, a lemon, garlic, and a packet of organic spaghetti, oh and a wedge of grana padano. Milk and toilet paper are often overlooked in this household, but we are always fully stocked when it comes to the cheese department.
Hence, you do not need to be a rocket scientist to know that you are 'almost' staring pesto in the face here. I was all out of pine nuts but I did have some ground almonds. Call it genius or sheer laziness (or a bit of both), but I quickly announced to my ravenous tribe that dinner tonight was going to be 'not quite pesto and spaghetti' and if they were lucky there may even be dessert.
Not quite Pesto
Recipe source - one desperate and lazy Ms.Gourmet
In the past I have made pesto with basil, parsley and coriander. When I do have pine nuts in the pantry I lightly toast them first to bring out the nutty flavour before blending them with the other ingredients. If you don't have pine nuts you can use ground almonds and if you don't want to use lemon just leave it out. We prefer grana padano in this house, but if you prefer parmesan then by all means use that.
Ingredients
Bunch of fresh basil
3 cloves of garlic
Zest and juice of a lemon
4 tbsp of ground almonds
6 tbsp of Grano Padano (we love our cheese)
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. Cook your spaghetti in a large pot of salted boiling water according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Place basil leaves, garlic, lemon zest and juice, ground almonds, grana padano and olive oil in the food processor and blend. You decide how fine or course you want the pesto to be.
3. Once the pesto is done season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
4. When spaghetti is cooked drain it in a colander, reserving a little of the cooking water.
5. Stir pesto through the spaghetti adding a little of the reserved cooking water if you want to loosen the pesto a bit.
6. Serve with freshly ground pepper and more cheese of course.
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Love those messy pesto-ingredient photos! I use walnuts in lieu of pine nuts many times, probably more often than not because they're always here.
Try with some pecorino cheese added to parmigiano or grana padano, it gives a nice touch!
And add some potatoes small cubes and some cutted Florentine string beans (I hope this is the English name, it is haricot in French and fagiolini in Italian)to the boiling water together with the pasta. You will tell me!
ciao
Simona
Love the idea of ground almonds in this recipe - brilliant! thanks!