Oh, Yay! The Farmers’ Market is open, and there’s food! Real, honest-to-goodness local, seasonal food!
I tried to be responsible; buying Basil is just silly. There will be tons growing in my own garden before long. But I couldn’t resist. It’s the call of the pesto, don’tcha know? And boy, was it yummy!
The first picture shows chicken grilling with a bit of green onion (not too green, but springtime onion). The second is when I added a bunch of chopped spinach. And the third is everything all ready to go on a bed of lettuce.
The Pesto Dressing
- A big wad of Basil. Maybe enough to fill a 2-cup pyrex, if you stuff it lightly inside.
- A couple of tablespoons of Parmesan
- A couple of tablespoons of nuts. (I actually used some ground almonds I had left over from making a curry.)
- Oil or dressing. I used the olive-oil mayonnaise I sort-of-accidentally made a while back. Perfect!
- A little salt, depending on the dressing.
Stuff the basil leaves in your mini-chopper and whirr. I filled it once, processed, then stuffed the rest in. It doesn’t make much, once you grind up the leaves.
If the nuts aren’t chopped yet, add them next, and grind a bit more. Less grinding=more crunch, more grinding=more smooth. Then add Parmesan and oil or creamy stuff.
The finished product
Put a bed of spring lettuce on a place, and serve up the chicken and spinach on top of it, still warm. Then pour (or glop) the pesto on top.
Of course, I forgot to take a picture of the dish, because I was too busy eating that wonderful plate of springtime. Heavenly!
2 responses so far ↓
1 Stephen Tiano // May 21, 2008 at 9:43 am
Hmmm … almonds. Doesn’t that wind up with a sweet kind of taste then. Walnuts or pignolis is the way to go. Also, you do use garlic in your pesto, yes?
The traditional recipe is 2 cups basil leaves, 1 cup pignolis (or walnusts0, 1 cup olive oil, 1 cup parmesan, and 1/4 cup romano. Plus a punch of fresh-ground black pepper. Try this for classic pesto.
I make something called Chicken Pestonaise by mixing some pest with olive oil/egg yolk mayo.
Now I have to get some basil.
2 Angela // May 21, 2008 at 12:16 pm
Garlic, usually. But I like to cook with what’s on hand.
I much prefer experimentation to doing things the same every time. And no, the almonds didn’t seem to sweet. Try it. You might like it.
Of course, for us Walnuts and Pine Nuts are both local, whereas Almonds have to travel a little ways.
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