A few days ago, I made chicken ravioli with a pesto. I made a little too much pesto, so I saved it with the hope of using it again. Well, a few days later, Sean was craving spaghetti and meatballs. I pulled out some frozen tomato sauce that I had made about a month ago and got started on my normal recipe for meatballs. Then it hit me, I should add the left over pesto to the meatballs.... very yummy by the way. At the end of them meal, I still had about four meatballs left. The next night, I decided to make eggplant parmesan french bread pizza. I thinnly sliced my eggplant on a mandalin then I pan fried it in olive oil. I didn't bread it because it was going on bread, so just a dash of salt was all it needed. As I layered it on the bread and covered it with the left over tomato sauce, I thought that those left over meatballs would be awefully nice on it too, so I sliced them and piled them on to my pizzas. Then I topped it with mozzerella cheese and baked them in the oven at 375 until the cheese was starting to brown. Sean's comment was, "This might be my favorite dinner that you have ever made." He's so easy to please, I don't know why I bother with anything fancier than this!
Oh one more thing, Jess keeps pestering me for the pesto recipe, but I really don't measure anything so here it is very roughly...
Throw the following into a food processor:
-big handful of fresh basil
-big handful of fresh parsley
-3-4 cloves of garlic (depending on how garlicy you like it)
-about 1/2 cup of cashews (most people use pine nuts, but I love cashews, and I always have them in the house)
-1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
-salt and pepper
Turn on the food processor and slowly pour in extra virgin olive oil until the pesto is smooth (probably about 3/4-1 cup).
I make pesto every summer while the basil is nice and fresh. I don't use parsley just my personal weirdness! I do use pine nuts- I am a huge fan and use them A LOT! However, I use ice trays and pour the pesto into them freeze completely remove and put into a ziploc bag for individual use. Makes it very easy, quick and convenient!
ReplyDeleteOne other thing...
ReplyDeleteIn the summer, as I am a huge gardener, I always have eggplant, squash, and tomatoes. Grill the eggplant and squash. Roast the tomatoes. Grab your pesto and some spaghetti sauce. Put sauce in a 9x13 pan place eggplant on bottom, next tomato, pesto, yellow squash, put smoked mozzarella on top and bake long enough to where the cheese is starting to melt. Enjoy! My mom and I ate on this for 3 days while I was visiting. We served pasta with pesto on the side and it tasted like it just came out of a 5 star restaurant! So yummy and utilizing the seasonal vegetables.
Wow, thank you for your great tip on freezing pesto! I love it! I grow herbs, I wish I had enough space for the vegetable garden. You are very lucky.
ReplyDeleteThe meal sounds yummy too! I will try it!
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Kristin