Basil Pistachio Pesto

The Bonus - Basil Pistachio Pesto

Well, after lamenting over the loss of production from my basil plants, I had a colander full of uninfested basil leaves that were rescued one by one from the culled stalks. J washed and cleaned these one by one to make sure there were no hidden baby scale bugs still attached. I had never before made fresh basil pesto before, but seen many different recipes, so figured I couldn't go too wrong. One thing missing though, was Pine nuts. I haven't seen pine nuts here yet, though I know China produces them and does eat them in the north country. I figured I would try substituting with the excellent pistachios we had on hand for sake of experimenting. It turned out great and was delicious :)

Ingredients:

Phase 1:
2 cups fresh basil, packed
2 med - large cloves garlic, peeled, roughly chopped (about 2 tbsp, or half this, if you prefer)
1/2 cup pistachio nuts, shelled
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1/4 tsp.fresh lemon zest
optional: 1/4 cup grated parmesan ( I choose to be frugal with my hard to come by parmesan stock, and only used it ontop of the pasta at the end)

Phase 2:
1 -1.5 cup(s) extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

1. Put all ingredients from phase 1 into a blender. Pulse to rough chop and blend ingredients.
2. Pour 1/2 the oil into mixture and blend, drizzle in remainder of oil when mixture starts to appear smooth.
3. add salt and pepper to flavor to your liking.

Makes enough for 4 servings. (mixture can be saved for upto one week in fridge or longer in freezer. Put mixer into air tight container and layer olive oil to cover mixture, to seal air out.

Cook up linguini 1 min less than fully cooked, using a pasta scooper, scoop pasta into pasta bowl, add pesto and mix, adding a little of the cooking water if needed too dry, or use olive oil.

Serve while hot with fresh shaved/grated parmesan and cracked black pepper. Buono Appetito!

Comments

my gourmet love affair said…

This pesto sounds great! I love the idea of using pistachios instead of the standard pine nuts, so creative! Definitely need to try this variation.
<3

2/02/2009 8:28 PM

Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

I revised an old recipe I had to freshen up the holiday classic of making shortbread cookies. I simply fell in love with the dough... ice cream like texture flecked with ruby red dried cranberries.... hmmm maybe La Casa Gelato could make a new flavour of gelato to add to their 208+ flavours... Photography by *kaishin* So, you'll need the following to get started: 2 cups sifted flour 1 tsp baking powder ¼ tsp salt 1 cup unsalted rm temp. butter ½ cup confectioner's (powder) sugar ½ cup chopped dried cranberries 1 Tbsp flour (to coat cranberries) I n a small bowl sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In medium bowl, cream butter with electric beater on high, until ver soft and creamy. Then add sugar and beat until completely smooth. On low speed, gradually add dry ingredients in, scrapping bowl with spatula and beat until smooth. Mix the Tbsp of flour into the chopped cranberries, this is to prevent them from clumping up in the dough mixture. Then put cranbe...

Balsamic Vinegar Pancakes

Photos posted by Kaishin Chu © 2009. I created this recipe a few years back while we vacationed in Tofino in a log cabin. I had hoped to make buttermilk pancakes (a recipe originally developed in my college days), but we couldn't find any buttermilk to purchase at the local little market on our way into town. Since I often adapt recipes in lieu of missing ingredients, so in this case seeing that I had brought a container of strawberries macerating in balsamic vinegar, I thought I would use the vinegar with milk to create something similar to buttermilk. I figured it couldn't hurt. Photos posted by Kaishin Chu © 2009. The breakfast turned out amazing, the pancakes were fluffy yet substantial, moist and full of flavour, esp. with maple syrup... After the meal, the idea for a proper recipe was set forth. Last year, I dreamt up another delectable recipe using balsamic vinegar left over from macerating fruit, to make panna cotta... I'll save that recipe to share with you for a...

Roasted Warm & Rich

Photography: kaishin chu © 2009. One thing both J and I love to smell during the winter months esp. is the smell of garlic roasitng in the house. It is intoxicating. We figured out the settings needed for our toaster oven to do a proper job, and we are so happy for it. (it's been much cooler in the month of Dec - Feb here, temp avg. around 11-17C, and with non insulated housing [ for the humid months] and no central heating, it took a bit of playing around to get the right temp to cook it in the proper time.) ---- Cut top off, drizzle olive oil, dash of salt, cover with foil in pan, roast, enjoy aromas, then devour. Toaster oven in winter: 375F for 1-1/4 hour, then left inside to cool down for 1/2 hour. In our Vancouver convection oven: 325F for 45 min, and left inside to cool down for 1/2 - 1 hour. If you like it less pungent, lower temp and lengthen roast time :)

. dash of food .

Search This Blog