Pesto, Please!

Part two of Spring Break out the Fat Pants is still in progress, but I’ve had multiple requests for pesto instead – both the dish and the recipe.  Fortunately, I also have a glut of basil and Italian parsley in my Aerogarden (yes, I still LOVE that thing!), so pesto pasta is what’s for dinner tonight and my besto pesto recipe is what’s for blog today.

Photo by Susan Wenzel

I'll be serving the pesto over Trader Joe’s fusilli pasta (I like how the sauce clings to the spirals of the pasta shape, and the flavor and texture of TJ’s fusilli is the best, bar none).  I also plan to toss in chunks of leftover Easter ham.  Yum!  

Pesto is equally delicious with pasta and peas (or just peas or just pasta), stuffed in chicken breasts, or on bread, pizza, shrimp…ok, ok, it’s good on nearly everything (but ice cream).  Pesto is as wonderfully versatile as it is exquisitely fragrant and gorgeously green. 

Here’s the how-to:

A Good Cooker’s Besto Pesto

Ingredients:

2c fresh basil leaves (packed)

1/4c fresh flat leaf Italian parsley (packed)

3 cloves garlic

1/4c pine nuts

1/2-1t salt (more or less to taste)

1/2c good extra-virgin olive oil (I like Filippo Berio)

1/4c grated parmesan (or Romano or Asiago or any combo of the three)

Instructions:

-Toast pine nuts in a non-stick skillet over med-high heat until golden brown, oily looking, and fragrant (3-4 minutes).  Remove from pan and set aside to cool.

-Blanch garlic cloves in boiling water for one minute (or put them in 1/2c water and microwave for 1 minute).  Set aside to cool.

-Place first five ingredients into food processor and pulse until chopped.
-Turn on food processor, drizzle in olive oil, process until smooth scraping sides of work bowl as necessary. 

-Add grated cheese and pulse four or five quick bursts just to combine.

-Use as desired.

Photo by Susan Wenzel

Ham and Pesto Pasta: Cook 1lb fusilli as per package directions and chunk up twelve ounces of ham into 1/2” cubes.  Drain pasta, reserving 1c pasta water.  Place cooked pasta, ham chunks, and 1/4c pasta water back in cooking pan over medium-low heat.  Add desired amount of pesto (I use it all!) and quickly stir to combine.  Add additional water to achieve desired sauce thickness.  Cook no longer than 2-3 minutes more after combining pesto and pasta to preserve flavors.  Adjust salt at this time if necessary.  Serve immediately topped with an extra sprinkle of cheese if desired.  Makes 4 hearty servings or four modest servings plus one lunch-sized bowl for the next day. 

Photo by Susan Wenzel

Note: Unused portions of pesto may be frozen for up to six months – not that it ever lasts that long in my house – actually it never seems to make it to the freezer.  I usually use the whole batch in one meal, as my kids adore pesto.  When I do freeze it, I place desired portions in a square of plastic wrap and twist-tie shut.  (I use the same method to freeze leftover tomato paste in 1-2T portions or 1/4c measures of bacon grease for cornbread).

A Good Cooker Cooks Again

It’s not that I haven’t been cooking for the last six or so months; I just haven’t been publishing it. You see, in April I got the writing bug and started on what I hope is to be my first novel. Published or unpublished, I intend to see it through to the end. But, that has nothing to do with cooking – and this is a cooking blog not a writing blog (although, I do have one of those now too).

During the last six months, I’ve had so many little tidbits, rants (Lunchables makes a peanut butter and jelly sandwich?!  Really?!  Sheesh!) and recipes to share and I sure as heck couldn’t put them on my writing blog (although I was tempted), but I was dying to send them out to the world.  So, here I am again – ready to write and cook and write about cooking.

But, I can’t leave without posting one recipe for a rustic pear tart courtesy of the Food Network. Since April, I have also been working on the property surrounding the new house. I put in a 20x24’ garden (another story for another day) and some fruit trees including a Bartlett pear. They all ripened at the same time and I we can eat only so many pears.  I've never cooked with them, but my daughter asked if I would/could make a pear tart (she’d seen one in the freezer at Trader Joes).  As I said, the original recipe is not mine, but (true to my nature) I fixed this one up a bit by replacing the lemon juice with dark rum and the cinnamon with fresh grated nutmeg. Also, consider replacing the pears with apples and the lemon juice with apple jack. Ohhhh boy! It’s also delicious served warm and paired with a scoop of French vanilla ice cream. Check it out:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/healthy-appetite-with-ellie-krieger-/rustic-pear-tart-recipe/index.html

Inconvenient Convenience

Am I a snob? I didn’t think so, but I was recently called one because I turned my nose up at “Convenience Foods” - especially Hamburger Helper. Helper? Really? More like enabler.

This goes back to a previous post – Butter’s Better – in which I talk about my disdain for "ready to eat" foods with bewildering ingredient lists, gargantuan amounts of fillers and sodium, and a frightening array of additives and preservatives (not to mention excess packaging that makes for one FULL trash can). I am NOT saying these things (canned soup, frozen dinners, boxed rice and pasta dishes, and more) are not tasty, and I am NOT saying I haven’t – at one time or another – purchased some of them, but they are simply NOT something I typically choose to eat or to feed my family.

No, I don’t exclusively cook from scratch and I don’t shun ALL convenience items (for instance, I don’t bake my own crackers and bread or make my own taco shells, pasta, ketchup and cheese and Trader Joe's does make a mean Organic Tomato & Roasted Red Pepper Soup), but I suggest it is possible to easily (and cheaply!) feed people delicious and nutritious meals without opening a cardboard box every. single. night. A peek inside my pantry and fridge/freezer will show a few of my favorite sneaky short-cuts - items I consider to be convenient.

-Canned beans (white, black, kidney, garbanzo)
-Uncle Bens converted rice (rarely use it, but some dishes call for it. I sure as heck would never admit this to my old Japanese Grandmother – if I had one.)
-Cake mixes (if they are good enough for Alton Brown, they are good enough for me)
-Sandwich meats (for school lunches)
-Salad dressing and mayonnaise (I make a vinaigrette from time to time but there are some really good pre-made dressings out there.)
-Krusteaz pancake mix (yes, I can do pancakes from scratch but sometimes the mix is, well, so convenient)
-Spam (but I’ve talked about my affinity for this salty pink canned meat before – I buy the lower fat, lower sodium “light” version - for what it’s worth).

Yes, this method of cooking is a learned skill. In my early years when I couldn’t cook, didn’t have enough time, and thought convenience foods really were that much easier, I was a Chef Boyardee, Stove Top Stuffing, Chunky Soup, Shake 'n Bake, Minute Rice type of girl.  But I’ve changed. Slowly but surely, over the years, I’ve become…a snob.

A quick, easy, cheap, not-from-a-box recipe example that I happen to be making for dinner:

Chicken Teriyaki "Assistant"
Stir-fry ingredients:
  1 lb boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite-sized pieces
  1 lb broccoli, cut into florets
  2 T cooking oil (less if using non-stick skillet)
Sauce ingredients:
  1 T sugar
  2 T mirin
  2 T sake
  3 T soy sauce
  1 T corn starch

1. Whisk together sauce ingredients and set aside.
2. Heat cooking oil in large skillet or wok over med/high heat.
3. Add chicken pieces and sauté until mostly cooked (3-4 minutes).
4. Add broccoli and continue cooking until bright green and tender (3-4 minutes).
5. Add sauce mixture and continue cooking until sauce is bubbly and begins to thicken (2-3 minutes).
6. Serve over steamed white or brown rice and enjoy. (Serves four)

Butter’s Better post: http://agoodcooker.blogspot.com/2010/02/butters-better.html

Time to make the lunches!

School starts tomorrow for my kids, which means it’s time to get to packing again. I began making their lunches several years ago for two reasons – money and nutrition (or lack thereof). I realized I was spending $35 a week for what I considered to be substandard sustenance – processed, fatty, carb and sodium loaded lunches with nary a fruit or vegetable to be seen – and knew we needed to make a change. I started thinking about what an amazing array of foods I could pack for that kind of money – delicious and healthy ones at that. The proverbial final straw was when my two came home and told me lunch was a piece of cheese pizza, a chocolate chip cookie and a bag of Doritos…oh, and a tiny carton of milk.

As a standard, I pack a main course (sandwich on wheat bread, wrap, soup or leftovers in a thermos), one or two fruits and veggies (usually fresh but sometimes things like canned pineapple in natural juice or applesauce), and a snack (pretzels, granola bar, goldfish crackers) as well as a yogurt and a drink (100% juice or chocolate soy milk). Occasionally I will throw in a special treat like gummies (with 100% vitamin C), dill pickles, cookies, a small piece of candy…or a Moonpie (don’t ask).

I ask for inputs and suggestions and am always on the lookout for new ideas to keep things fresh and interesting.  (Trader Joe's has some of the most unique lunchbox items - cinnamon almonds, pita chips, exotic dried fruits, fruit leather, and more!)  Probably the kids' single-most favorite lunch EVER is one I first made during a desperate time when I inadvertently found myself breadless. I called it a “snack pack” (and still do) and filled their lunch boxes with several small items including hard-boiled eggs, cheese cubes, celery or pretzels with peanut butter or hummus, edamame, and more.

Oddly enough, even the lunch lady thinks their lunches are cool – she comments regularly on them and told me she is always excited to see what new things I will pack each day.

Here are a few random lunch-packing tips everyone probably already knows, but I’m going to add them anyway.

• Keep the hot stuff hot and the cool stuff cool. Pour hot water into the thermos, cap it and let it stand for at least five minutes to warm the thermos lining before adding soup or other yummy hot food (spaghetti is a much loved choice around here). Add a reusable icepack to the lunchbox closest to the foods that need it the most.

• Wash the ice packs and lunchboxes at least once a week.

• I put a small bottle of germ killer in the outer pocket of their lunchboxes for those times when they aren’t able to wash their hands before chowing down.

• Buy large bags of food and divide it into smaller servings in reusable containers – those single serving, 100-calorie deals are both budget and environmentally UNfriendly. Ziploc and Lock&Lock both make an assortment of sizes. I personally prefer the Lock&Lock brand because they actually keep juicier items from leaking all over the inside of the lunchbox.

Cup 'O Joe By Any Other Name

I never used to be a regular coffee drinker but lately can’t seem to get my day started without it. I’m fond of Starbucks but only occasionally order anything but their brewed coffee as both the price and the calorie content of some of their featured items scare me (although once or twice a year I indulge in a Cinnamon Dolce Latte or a cappuccino). My frugal side spurs me to make the majority of my own coffee at home, but because I fancy myself a sort of coffee connoisseur, I've found the fair-trade organic blends from Trader Joe’s (they have a few) nicely suit my daily needs.

(A Fair Trade Certified designation, in theory, marks goods that pay the farmers producing them - typically coffee, tea, chocolate and sugar - a larger percentage or "fair" amount of the proceeds. For more on this, see http://www.transfairusa.org/)

Regular coffee aside, my Vietnamese coffee post prompted me to think about other “exotics” I’ve tried both here and abroad. Of course I’ve had Jamaican Blue Mountain and Kona coffee; indeed, when I was on the Big Island in April, I visited a coffee co-op and bought plenty of Kona for me and some to share. But, I suppose my two absolute favorites are of the Greek and Turkish varieties. Although I’d tasted Greek coffee at our local Greek food fest, the cup I had in Crete was second to none. I was able to watch the curator grind the beans in an ancient looking mill, carefully spoon out just the right amount of fine powdered coffee from the mill’s wooden drawer, simmer my single serving in a small metal pot known as a briki and slowly pour the rich, dark brew, grounds and all, into a white porcelain demitasse topped with the lighter brown foam left clinging to the sides of the pot. Delicious.

(Greek coffee is made with or without sugar. The amount or a lack thereof sugar is identified by the name. Sketos = no sugar, metrios = a little sugar, glykos = a lot of sugar, vary glykos = extra strong coffee with extra sugar.)

Turkish coffee is prepared in the same manner as the Greek coffee and indeed is often referred to as one in the same (although the Turkish beans traditionally have a far darker roast). Finely powdered coffee - sugar or no - is also brewed in a long handled pot called a cezve.  Not unlike a briki in form and function, this Middle-eastern version is traditionally made from copper and a bit more ornate.  Additionally, Turkish coffee is frequently spiced with cardamom. Cardamom, of the ginger family, is indigenous to India but also grown in South America. Available in whole pod, seed or powder form, it is widely used throughout Indian cooking from curries to desserts and even to season steamed basmati rice. In the Middle East, where I lounged on a red velvet couch to enjoy my first cup of Turkish coffee, cardamom is used to add flavor to both coffee and tea.

I don't have the capicity to grind my coffee beans as fine as is required for either of these, nor do I have plans (unfortunately) to travel overseas again any time soon, but I have learned to make due.  A couple brands of pre-ground Greek coffee can be found in specialty markets, and I satisfy my Turkish coffee crave by grinding a whole cardamom pod (purchased from http://www.thespicehouse.com/, of course) with my regular beans before brewing. 

Thanks to these last couple posts, in addition to a Vietnamese coffee press (I've now learned is called a cà phê phin), I now feel the need to find a briki or perhaps even a cezve.

(Thank you to http://www.thespicehouse.com/ for the cardamom picture and to http://www.freshcoffeeshop.com/ for the cezve picture)

Trader Joe's

The families in my neighborhood exchanges little gifts at Christmas, and I usually make an assortment of homemade cookies and candies for each family. This year I am not baking for them, and it’s all Joe’s fault – Trader Joe’s, that is.

I was introduced to TJ’s by my sister-in-law shortly after moving to California (yes, the one that mailed me spices) and soon became, well, enamored. Flatbread, tzatziki sauce and hummus, organic blue corn tortilla chips and fresh salsa, fresh organic fruits and veggies, scrumptious soups (tomato and roasted red pepper is a personal fav) and a plethora of other tasty items with ingredients I could both pronounce and recognize – I soon did most of my grocery shopping at TJ’s. I was bummed when I moved back to Virginia and realized the closest one to my house was an hour away. But, I was determined to have my cranberry crunch cereal, Thai peanut sauce and organic haricot vert (green beans) and would make the trek once a month, cooler and reusable shopping bags in tow, over the river and through the woods to Trader Joe’s I’d go. Imagine my elation when rumors started to swirl that we were getting one right here in town. Speculation abounded as to where it would go and exactly when it would open. TWO YEARS after the initial rumblings, I finally stood in a blocks-long line of fellow TJ’s aficionados waiting for my chance inside the grand opening.

Now I can go whenever I have the need. I try to stick to the necessities, but who can with such a fabulous range of unique items. For instance, I go in for whole wheat pita bread, strawberry kefir (a probiotic yogurt-type drink my kids love), quinoa (a delicious alternative to couscous or rice) and chocolate soymilk (another favorite of the kids) and walk out with five bags filled with sesame honey almonds, creamy corn and roasted red pepper soup, sparkling blueberry juice, Double Gloster cheese with chives and more – and forget the pita bread.

This is what happened to my traditional cookie gift. It went by the wayside when I saw the array of distinctive Christmas items at TJ’s. I couldn’t stop myself. My cart was soon filled with elegant tins of sipping chocolate, chocolate truffles, chocolate oranges, and peppermint Jo Jo’s (far tastier than Oreo’s, in my opinion). This year the neighbors are all getting an assortment of TJ-made chocolate treats. Somehow, I don’t imagine they will mind.