Vanilla Icing

Tofu Scramble

 

A few weeks spent recovering from a reoccuring SI Joint Issue that decided to make things even more fun by causing the sciatic nerve on the opposite side have excrutiating pain and numbness (how can both of those things even happen at the same time?) is an excellent time to really appreciate one's friends and family.  I've been couch-ridden nearly a month with a few more days at least in sight and Rick has been doing everything to keep our little family of four humans and a handful of furry people running smoothly.   He's taken kids to band practices and orthodontist appointments.  He's taken me to doctor's appointments and physical therapy appointments.  All the shopping (and there's a lot of it when you have a 15 year old boy!) he's done all alone.  

Rick doesn't cook but he's kept our house stocked with plenty of easy to prepare things that the kids could make for themselves or make for me and he's even done very well at accommodating my 6 month vegetarian status.   He's made me little snack plates with fresh fruit, cheese, and these amazing brown rice with salt and pepper Triscuits and kept my little coffee pantry well stocked.  I've tried more flavors of hummus than ever before and found a new favorite one and I finally got to try some of those frozen vegetarian Indian meals that I always eye at the grocer's.  And you know what?  They aren't half bad!

My friends have been wonderful as well.   They've sent little cards and notes to cheer me up and stopped by and kept me company even though I know it had to be awkward talking to me when the only position that gave me relieve was on my hands and knees with several pillows shoved under my abdomen and my cheek pressing against the cushion of the couch.   Some have brought lunch from some of my favorite take out places --vegetarian massaman from Curry Away and paneer mekhani from Udipi, yum!-- and others have brought me raspberry mochas from Starbucks and candy.   I've been very, very spoiled during my convalescense! 

After several weeks of eating delicious things some that are healthy and quite a few that are not so healthy especially so often I've been really looking forward to when I could stand up long enough to prepare myself a simple meal.  Today was that day!

I sauteed some onions, garlic, orange pepper, and kale in a small pan.  I added some crumbled soft tofu and a chopped mushroom veggie burger and sprinkled the whole thing with some paprika, nutritional yeast, salt, and pepper.   It only took me about ten minutes to make but I was a little worn out after even that little bit of time and happily sat down to the first thing I've cooked in nearly four weeks!

 

Cooking At The Office

The last five months I've been working full time at our family business and while it's not exactly something I enjoy doing, I've been finding ways to make it better.   It's a hard adjustment to be confined to a desk all day long staring at a computer and stacks of paper and I admire all of those who have been doing  this all along.    I'm much more used to getting the children fed, ready, and out the door for school and then having hours upon hours to do the chores at home, the errand running, working out and most importantly the baking and the cooking!

At the office for eight hours a day,  I haven't been able to figure out how to fit in all that I'm used to doing in a day.  The first few months I struggled a lot to get everything done and with some of the things--namely the chores and errand running--I'm still trying to figure it out.  But I have figured out two things:  working out and the cooking.

My dearest friend, Missy, who attended school with me from Kindergarten all the way through Highschool Graduation and now works at our office, has helped me greatly by being sweet and supportive of all of my griping.  We have decided to use our lunch hour wisely and spend either the first 30 or the second 30 of it getting in a walk.  Lucky for us, when we step out of the office there's a sidewalk for us to follow and if we keep our steps brisk, we can get two miles in and feel all the better for it.  There's something about fresh air that really clears the mind!

Missy doesn't really enjoy cooking but she's happy to wash dishes if I do the cooking so we make an effective lunchtime team.   Armed with a hot plate, toaster oven, and microwave I'm finding creative ways to cook healthy lunches with good wholesome food.   My attitude at work is already beginning to improve a little now that I'm not feeling confined to cold sandwiches, processed foods, and dashes to local-bad-for-you eateries.   

It's not so hard to do if you have a plan and do a few things ahead of time such as picking up your necessary ingredients and keeping that at hand in office kitchen.   Missy and I are still on the plan a day or two at a time but we have aspirations to work on a weekly meal plan for breakfasts and lunches. I'm cooking for three of us--Missy, my husband, and myself--but it would be just as easy to cook for one or a couple more.

Baked Potato at 375

1.  Two hours prior to lunch, toss a couple of foil wrapped fork pricked baking potatoes in the toaster oven and set for 375 degrees.

2.  Thirty minutes prior to lunch*, place chicken breasts on lightly greased baking pan.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper and/or choice of seasonings.  Slide onto the second rack of the toaster oven and go for a walk!

3.  Return from the walk, remove the potatoes and chicken from the toaster oven.  Brush some barbecue sauce on the chicken  and return to the oven for a few minutes while you cut open and fluff your baked potato.    Cube the chicken toss on the baked potato and top with a slice of low fat cheese and enjoy!    

If you don't want to bother with the chicken, skip this step and when you return from the walk, put a steamer bag of broccoli (plain, seasoned, or the sort that has cheese sauce) in the microwave and top your potato with that instead.  Or in addition!

The only step not completed during the lunch hour is putting the baked potatoes in the oven and that literally takes about two minutes if you haven't wrapped them in foil ahead of time.   No reason at all you can't detour by the toaster oven on the way to the water cooler or the coffee pot!  No excuses!

Arugula & Avocado Salad

Two steps forward, one step back.  One step forward, two steps back.  Another step forward, a great big hopeful leap forward, a tiny stumble.   This song, New Soul, by Yael Naim brings me a gentle hopefulness and though sometimes it may be sad, a smile to my face.  

There are plenty of flowers and now, even though my Lemon Boy tomatoes are ripening painstakingly slow, there are vegetables and herbs.   Not as many as I'd like but each year I slip a seed or a plant into the ground teaches me a little bit more about the best way to grow food where I can in my extremely shady city yard.  

The sage is even more abundant than past years and Maia asks often for pasta with browned butter and sage.  I've even whirred up packed cupfuls of leaves in the food processor to make sage pesto and used it to top grilled porkchops.   I haven't tried tossing it with pasta yet but I plan to and soon.   There's plenty of basil and I often chiffonade handfuls of it to toss on salads, pastas, and other dishes. The thyme has doubled in size as has the rosemary and even if the oregano withered it was the only thing that didn't make it.   The flat leaf parsley happily reseeds itself wherever it will and I never give it a thought except to note where it has gotten itself to this time.

I have four tomato plants in pots and two of them are happily giving me fresh tomatoes every day. Several times a day I urge the other two plants to catch up...but not too fast lest I be inundated with tomatoes faster than they can be eaten.  All four pepper plants have peppers dangling from their leaves and I've already helped myself to a jalapeno.  Unfortunately, my part of the world decided it wanted to have a monsoon season and the pepper plants got a little waterlogged before I moved them to a drier location.  The leaves aren't as deep of a green as I'd like and I can't help but think that might mean less peppers than I'd like.  Peppers in pots do best on the porch tucked under the roof.  Lesson learned.

My cat scratched up ALL of my spinach, butter lettuce, and spinach seedlings but left the arugula alone. I think the arugula felt sorry for me and grew extra well because I seem to have twice as much as I planted.  The zucchini plant I've been giving a few sideways looks because I've seen plenty of flowers on it but no appearance of wee baby zucchinis yet.  The cucumber plants are threatening to take over the entire garden bed and are studded with bright sun-gold flowers to the point that I'm feeling a little alarmed at the thought of all of those little blossoms turning into cucumbers and having to eat them all!

Inexplicably, there appears to be a broccoli plant growing out of the pot my lemon tree is in.  It's a scraggly looking thing and I don't expect much from it, if anything, but I don't have the heart to yank it out and instead I let it be.  'Benevolent Neglect' seems to be the style of gardening  that works best with the little bit of earth I own as evidenced by my strawberry patch being past the berrying stage and in the Take Over the Entire Yard stage.

I've noticed a funny habit in myself now that I've managed to get so many tasty things growing.  I find myself wanting to save the food--as in not pick it!--for some 'perfect' date but of course that can't be done because it will eventually begin to rot and then I'd be very sad.  I have to remind myself that the perfect date to harvest a fruit or vegetable is when it is ripe and that the next day another one will be ripe and the day after that and so on until its season is over.  I think it's because of two things that I do this:  One, I've grown this perfect little bit of food that doesn't get any more local or organic than several dozen feet from where I sleep and I can't bear the idea of destroying it.  (I'm a plant softie.  What can I say?)  And two,  I don't have nearly enough plants of each thing I'm growing to have all that I could want of it and that makes me miserly.  This second was made clear to me when I realized that when one has a strawberry patch bigger than a queen sized bed, one has no compunctions about picking strawberries as fast as one can that are only washed by the sun and greedily gobbling them down.

If you don't count the strawberries, the habit is easily broken once I've made something with the first tiny harvest of the season.   I broke the habit with a salad that incorporates many of the 'big' summer vegetables  and now I'm outside glaring at my plants every day trying to intimidate them into stepping up production.  I'm sorry to report that I must not be too intimidating becuase it hasn't worked yet.

This salad is easily tweeked if you have more or less of a particular ingredient and can be made a few hours ahead of time and kept in the refrigerator.   However, I suggest gently folding in the arugula leaves right before serving to keep them pretty and crisp.

 

Arugula & Avocado Salad

                       by Michelle

2 cups of loosely packed arugula

1 avocado, diced

3 ears of corn steamed or grilled 

1-2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

handful of chopped flat leaf parsley

extra virgin olive oil, approximately a tablespoon or so

lime juice, approximately a tablespoon or so

red wine vinegar, approximately a tablespoon or so

salt and pepper

 

1.  Use a serrated knife and slice the corn off the cobs into your serving bowl.    Drizzle the lime juice over the avocado and toss gently to coat.  This will help prevent unsightly browning.  Mix the avocado, tomatoes, jalapeno, parsley, and arugula into the bowl with the corn.

2.  Drizzle the salad with the olive oil and vinegar and gently toss the vegetables to thoroughly coat them.  Salt and pepper to taste.

Potato Chip Makin'

"Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself."  Michael Pollan, Rule # 45, 'Food Rules'

I've been mostly following this rule before I even read Michael Pollan's book because I like to know for certain what exactly is in the food that my family and I eat.  No red dye #40 or hydro-ethyl-acid-sulfite-propyl-benzoates for us!  And besides....homemade just always tastes better.

There's still a few foods I'm still buying prepared and this is something I'm working to change.  The three big items are hard pretzels, salad dressings, and potato chips.  The first one I've not found a recipe but I've not searched too hard because out of all the snack foods out there, pretzels seem to be the one relatively simple and unadorned foods.   Last week I made my first salad dressing and it was so easy that I can't believe I've not done it sooner.  I plan on trying a homemade ranch dressing tonight.

The last one--potato chips--is something we don't eat very often around here but we all do enjoy on occasion.  Tristyn has been asking and asking me if we could make them and I agreed but marching band and cheerleading practices and that whole pesky school thing has been getting n the way.  An unexpected cancellation of practices last night gave us a chance to finally try making potato chips.

It was very simple to do.  I peeled potatoes while Tristyn sliced them with the mandolin.   Then we soaked the slices in water for about 30 minutes to remove excess starch while the oil heated up to 350 degrees.  The potato slices were drained, patted dry and slipped into the oil.  The chips were fried until they were golden brown.  I dumped the fry basket out on paper towels to drain away the oil and Tristyn brandished the salt shaker.  That was it!

Of course, Tristyn and I popped hot crunchy chip after hot crunchy chip in our mouths.  A freshly fried potato chip is something everyone who rips open a bag of potato chips from the store has been missing.  There's a loud crunch, an explosion of salt and potato shards, and then everything just melts in your mouth.  Literally.   

The chips cool quickly and are ready to serve plain or with a favorite dip.  They can also be stored in an airtight container for a few days.    Potato chips also make an excellent sandwich companion.....if...

...you don't eat too many hot chips and fill up!  I ate plenty of chips during the making of them that after I took the picture I had to slide the chips back into the bowl--I only had room for the sandwich!  Maybe that's why the rule states "...if you cook it yourself," because by the time you've cooked and sampled the food you don't want anymore.  The onus of consuming the finished product is on everyone else!  

Hmmmm....

Hot Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches

Not so many years ago, I was a picky eater of the worst kind.  I had an enormous list of things I didn't like and I was a master of picking off and eating around things I didn't like.  Which.....was very nearly everything!  If there was even the smallest chunk of tomato in the pasta sauce I'd flick it rudely away.  That sauce needed to be a pefect puree for this picky person!

And these things:

These things used to terrify me.  But  gradually (okay, it really was wanting to not seem like a immature child in front of my now-husband), I overcame my bad habits and began to like very nearly everything.   Peppers, tomatoes, and onions didn't have the power to send me fleeing....so long as they were cooked!  

It wasn't until a few months after the great tastebud reset of 2011 (Vegetarian Challenge) that changed my palate entirely, that I noticed something.  I was snacking on slices of crisp peppers as I chopped them up for another dish.  And then another time, as I sliced a tomato I had to sprinkle salt on it and eat it up right then and there which was something I had never ever done before.  Incidentally, this is when I noticed that wine finally didn't taste like sour grape juice.  There were nuances!  Nuances!  And I could taste them and they were delicious!  

Ahem!  I digress.  Back to tomatoes, onions, and peppers.

And hot sausage.  Oh, yes.

Hot sausages bursting with juices surrounded by tender vegetables are just waiting to be in tucked into torpedo rolls and gobbled up.  You have no idea how difficult it was to fend off my family while I took the pictures when really I wanted to stab my fork into the skillet and grab the plumpest sausage before anyone else could.

Hot Sausage and Pepper Sandwiches are a local favorite in this part of Pennsylvania.  Block parties, church events, community days, and firemen's fairs all serve this sandwich and I do my best to follow my nose to the tent serving these sandwiches and get in the long line to wait my turn.  And it's always been worth the wait.

It took missing my town's community day last year* to realize that there was no reason I couldn't make this sandwich myself.   This is the perfect time of year to make them too because everyone has piles and piles of tomatoes and peppers tumbling out of their gardens.  Pick your own, beg, borrow, or steal from a neighbor (and if you filch from the neighbor you better bring him or her over a sandwich!  Trust me, they'll forgive you.) and make Hot Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches for dinner.  

I make homemade torpedo rolls but you can find them at the grocery store as well where they are more often called 'sausage rolls' which are thick, crusty elongated rolls conveniently the length of a sausage.  It's important to get the right type of rolls because this sandwich is so juicy that regular rolls can't hold up long enough to eat it.

Oh, and by the way?  Sliced watermelon is a perfect companion; it's cooling and sweet which is especially good if you have little ones joining you for dinner.

 

Hot Sausage & Pepper Sandwiches

                          by Michelle

5-6 Italian hot sausages

2 peppers, red, yellow, green--any combination--sliced into strips

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 onion, cut into rings

1 tsp dried oregano (increase amount if using fresh)

1 tsp dried basil (increase amount if using fresh

Olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

5-6 torpedo rolls

 

1.  In a deep skillet, brown sausages on both sides and remove from pan.  Drizzle a little olive oil and saute onions and peppers until softened.  Stir in tomatoes, oregano, and basil.  If you aren't using tomatoes grown in your garden or your neighbors, you might wish to add a teaspoon of sugar to cut the bite of a conventiona store bought tomato.  Return sausages to the pan and nestle them into the vegetables.

2.  Cover and simmer 40-45 minutes, stirring periodically to make sure the vegetables aren't sticking to the bottom of the pan.  Salt and pepper if desired.

3.  Split torpedo rolls, tuck in a sausage and pile on the vegetables and enjoy!

 

*When I was a picky eater, I still ate this sandwich only sans peppers, tomatoes, and onions and I never looked at the sausage once I bit it because there were strange unidentifiable spices inside those things! I am so happy to be past that silly nonsense.

Slipping in Summer Requires Reset

Summer is a season of abundance.  Fresh fruit and vegetables are everywhere and people are tripping over them -- quite literally in the case of those with gardens!  

Deep dark greens drizzled lightly with a favorite dressing, sweet buttery corn, grilled zucchini, plump tomatoes bursting with juices.....the list can go on and on.  But sometimes...oh, sometimes!

A bad thing can happen.

Summer is also the season of grilled cheeseburgers, rainbow sprinkled ice cream, amusement park funnel cakes, S'mores milkshakes at Burgatory, and crisp steak fries everywhere one goes.  And then, let's not forget the countless picnics, parties, and get togethers that friends have!  Chips, chips, and more chips and occasionally some brownies thrown in for a bit of variety.  My friends, unfortunately, do not share the same food values that I have.  I prefer a whole foods diet with lots of fruits and vegetables and I try to avoid processed foods as much as possible.  Very few come into my home and I try to limit consumption of such things to when I am not at home.   But the month of August has been very difficult for me; I've eaten more bad things in this month alone than I have for the prior three!  

Let's not even get started on the amount of diet Pepsi I was consuming.

At first I didn't notice anything but then I started to notice that I  constantly felt a hunger I couldn't satisfy and I just kept putting more and more bad things inside of me.  I felt heavy and lethargic.  My stomach often wasn't very happy by the end of the day and I constantly felt bloated.  And greasy. And frankly? Just plain gross!  I knew it was what I had been eating--junk--and what I hadn't been eating--whole foods--and I had to do something about it.

I had to reset.

The very next morning, I turned on my new Punch Brothers Cd while I kneaded some dough for  Italian bread and thought about what vegetables I had on hand and what I could do with them.  It was an unseasonably cool day and I decided I would make a nourishing summer minestrone full of vegetables--tomatoes, green beans, zucchini, peas, carrots, celery, and onions.   The aroma filled the house as the soup simmered.The first bite was delicious.  And so was the next and the next and the next and I scraped that bowl clean!

It was just what I needed.  A reset.  Since then, I've been able to return to my preferred diet and I am feeling good in my body again.  Gone is the heavy, bloated feeling.  Gone is the greasy, gross feeling.  I feel light and energetic and more importantly.....

Satisfied.

Sun & Scarves

Yarn Along with Ginny...

I must confess I've not done too much knitting this past week.  I've done a little work on last week's project and I'm about halfway through on my Branching Out Scarf.  The rip-back on the scarf disheartened me slightly and slowed me down but I rallied after a few days and 'caught' back up only to be distracted by a painting project and an outdoor project.  The outdoor project consisted of digging up several, large, heavy rotting rail road ties that edged my front walk and then replacing them.  The work left me sore all over--including my hands!  When I tried to knit, my left hand cramped severely and I've not picked up my needles in two days.  

But, I've had an even better 'distraction.'

'The Tuscan Sun Cookbook' by Frances & Edward Mayes was resting innocently enough on a table at the bookstore.  I passed the table twice without looking down but when I finally did and saw this cookbook I knew it had to be mine.  And it was, just mere minutes later!  I snatched it up so quickly you'd have thought it was the last one of a Christmas' toy fad and all but ran for the register.  Never mind that there was a tidy stack of at least ten more on the table, I must confess I behaved a bit like a lunatic.

Frances Mayes is the author of 'Under the Tuscan Sun', 'Bella Tuscany: The Sweet Life in Italy,' and a few others.   She is one of my favorite authors and I adore her writing.   Her words on Italy, travel, art, food, and simply life are beatifully written and I reread her books over and over.  They are literary comfort food to me.

I haven't tried any of the recipes from the cookbook yet; I am still very much in the stages of reading the words and savoring the pictures.  Frances Mayes' other books often contain a few recipes and I've tried many of them.  The recipes are simple, requiring only a few ingredients and a willingness to let the food speak for itself.   The Tuscan Sun Cookbook appears to be following suit and I am very much looking forward to trying many-if not all!-of the recipes.

Game of Thrones Lemon Cakes

It's official; I AM a Game of Thrones geek.  I read the first couple of novels years and years ago and promptly forgot about them until I saw the trailer for the first season of Game of Thrones on HBO.  It's not often that books from the fantasy genre are turned into television shows and when they are they are often full of fail.  (See the Sword of Truth series by Terry Goodkind-the show was full of cheese!)  But, I'm a long time fan of HBO productions and I had faith that they would do it right.

And do it right they did.  Season one of Game of Thrones was fantastic and it even turned Rick into a GoT geek too!  We both read all of the books and have held endless discussions on them and have been known to scare away family members and friends with our geekery.

Needless to say, excitement for season two ran high in our household and we invited a few friends down to watch the premiere with us.

One of them, Cathy of Intentional Stones, is just as geeky about it as us.  She joined me in making snacks appropriate for the Game of Thrones.  She borrowed my book "The Unofficial Game of Thrones Cookbook" and selected a dish to prepare from it and took inspiration from an alcoholic drink recipe to create her own version.  I wanted to make the lemon cakes Sansa & Arya are always mentioning but I wasn't impressed with the recipe in the book and made my own version as well.  By the way?  The Official Game of Thrones cookbook comes out May 29, 2012.  Of course, I intend on owning both.  Don't judge.  I'm holding back on the GoT coffee mug, tshirt, playing cards, board game, and journal.  For now.

Lemon cakes.  Sweet and tart all at once.

Wildfire.  Cathy put the drinks in cunning little flasks and then packed them appropriately in a wooden crate surrounded by straw.  It was a fantastic idea!

Cheesemonger's Caramelized Onions.  Heavily aromatic with an earthy sweetness.

Return to Veggies

                                                                Veggie Pizza

In August, I challenged myself to eat vegetarian  and I went two entire weeks which isn't really that long but it was enough time to realize that eating vegetarian made me feel very different.  Different, in a very good way.  I felt lighter, which might sound a little silly, but I mean I felt like I had more bounce in my step and more energy.  I didn't feel weighed down, not even after eating a big meal. Gone was the heavy, slightly bloated feeling that I often experienced eating something as simple as a hamburger on the grill and corn on the cob.  And the oddest thing?  I didn't even realize I was feeling like that until I wasn't feeling it anymore.

                                               Pistachio Stuffed Mushrooms

Then, just two weeks after eating vegetarian, I abruptly stopped and returned to my former ways.  I told myself it that it was necessary because I was going to Columbus in a few weeks for a food blogger tour.  It seemed a good idea to be 'used' to consuming meat before embarking on a culinary tour where there would be many delicious things to eat.  I'm glad that I decided to eat meat while in Columbus because there were so many wonderful things to try like Thurn's Meats, tacos and pork belly.

However, back at home, I started to notice that after certain meals that 'heavy, bloated feeling' was present again and it began to bother me.  I tried to ignore it but it persisted in nagging me.  After much thought, I've decided to pick back up with my 'Vegetarian Challenge' and see where it takes me.

                                                         Fresh fruit & veggies

I don't expect to ever be a hard and fast vegetarian.  The other day, I was at a restaurant where the owner and chef were sending out all manner of things for Rick and I to try.  The one dish had chunks of chicken sprinkled on the top.  I didn't turn away from the dish but I did push the chicken to one side for Rick to eat.    It seems as though a more dedicated vegetarian might not touch any food that meat has touched but that's not me.   Right now, nearly ten days in, what works for me is not eating meat but not becoming obsessive compulsive about it.  If I was eating dinner at a friend's and learned the rice was prepared with chicken broth I would continue to eat it.  And when Thanksgiving comes, there's a fair chance that I will partake of the turkey.  No Tofurkey for this girl!

                                                          Peas & Parmesan

If I were to be invited to another culinary tour or event, I would happily indulge in any meat proffered because I think that's how I shall treat meat: an occasional indulgence.  And let's face it, I've had some of the best meat ever when someone else is preparing it!

                             Homemade Guacamole & Grilled Quesadilla

I still have much to learn about vegetarian cooking and would love to hear any tips, recipes, or websites/blogs.  Please feel free to leave a comment or send me an email with anything you'd like to share.  It would really be appreciated!

                                                      Deconstructed Pesto

Deconstructed Pesto

As a person who loves talking and writing about food, eating food and preparing food, is Italian, it seems wrong to admit that I dislike pesto sauce.  I want to like it and sing its praises but I have found it often to have a subtle bitter taste to it that only occurs when the basil is broken down by any of the various methods people like to use to make pesto.    And, if I am confessing, I must also add that noodles coated in anything that vibrant of a green startles me a little.  My husband and children don't really care for 'green pasta' either.  

After a recent trip to Trader Joe's where I purchased fresh basil to use on pizza margherita, I had a large quantity left and needed to find a way to use it before it went bad.  Try as I might, I could not think of anything to do with it but make pesto.  I didn't want pesto.  My family didn't want pesto.  But pesto, deconstructed is what I gave them.  

It's a very simple dish that comes together quickly and has rapidly become a favorite of my pesto hating family.  I haven't the heart to tell them that essentially they ARE eating pesto.  Deconstructed pesto does not have the staggeringly intense flavor of traditional pesto sauce but what it loses in sheer overwhelming boldness it makes up for in its light, perfect for summer deliciousness.  Each ingredient retains its own identity allowing you to savor the nuances of each before combining them into a delicate pesto flavored mouthful.  

All of the traditional ingredients for pesto were used but I couldn't resist trying this delicious Garlic Olive Oil from The Olive Orchard.  The Olive Orchard does not infuse their olive oils with flavor; they press their olives with the additonal ingredients to create an olive oil that is heavily flavored but still retains the light mouthfeel of olive oil.  

 

Deconstructed Pesto

              by Michelle

1 large bunch of basil, chopped roughly to make 1 cup

2 tablespoons of  pine nuts

1/4 cup grated parmesan reggiano

1-2 ounces of Olive Orchard Garlic Olive Oil (or e.v. olive oil + 1 minced garlic clove or few shakes powdered garlic)

8 ounces of dried pasta

salt and pepper to taste

 

1.  Prepare pasta to personal cooked preferences.  I prefer mine al dente to better combine with the pine nuts.  Drain pasta.

2.  Toss pasta with olive oil.  Do not over do the oil so the pasta is dripping but do have a generous hand.  Gently stir in the parmesan, pine nuts and basil.  Salt and pepper to taste.

3.  Serve immediately.

Make pesto in your mouth.