A Super Pesto - With Moringa!

Okay, all right, I do realize that most of you won't be harvesting Moringa any time soon.  However, (should be in caps) it was such a thrill making this pesto that I'm posting it anyway, especially since it turned out so darned good! The moringa itself has a lovely nutty flavor, just a hint of bitter, with the basil adding it's sharp herbal notes and citrus offsetting the unctuousness of toasted walnuts, Parmesan and olive oil. 

YOU CAN ALSO make it with moringa powder.  Add 1 Tablespoon of the powder to your pesto recipe, and increase the amount of basil and parsley if you wish. As shown on the Dr. Oz show apparently.  I started a project some time ago, determined to find more ways of incorporating this very healthful plant into our diets.  And, pesto is a great addition for sure.  See above post link.

                                     Moringa Basil Pesto

                                                         A Variation of Pesto Genovese

Ingredients

1 cup fresh basil, divided
1/3 cup toasted walnuts
2/3 cup finely grated parmesan
2 large cloves raw garlic, chopped
1/3 cup fresh parsley, chopped
2 cups fresh Moringa leaves
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil  (adjust to desired consistency)
1/2 lemon or lime, juiced
Salt to taste

Place half the basil leaves along with the garlic cloves, cheese, and walnuts into a high speed blender. Blend continuously until finely chopped and evenly dispersed.

Add lemon juice, remaining basil, parsley leaves and the fresh Moringa leaves. Blend, scraping down sides of the blender jar intermittently until adequately chopped and incorporated.

Drizzle in oil while blending. Adjust to desired consistency. (Note: More oil will produce a thinner pesto that works well for sauces. Less oil will produce pesto better equipped for spreading.)

Spritz in extra lemon or lime juice as needed. Sprinkle in salt. Add/adjust ingredients (garlic, walnuts, cheese, lime, salt) to taste.

If keeping, coat the top with a bit of olive oil and store in a small air tight container.



For our Valentine's Dinner we had Tagliatelle with Pesto Genovese and Tenderloin steaks.  Blueberry Upside down Cake to follow.

We really enjoyed this mixture of pasta and potatoes with the pesto sauce. From a favorite cookbook of mine, Great Italian Cooking, edited by Michael Sonino.

Another useful moringa discovery was the trick of putting a good sized bunch of leaves into a big paper bag for drying.  A few days in a sunny spot or in the oven with just a pilot light.  Then you can easily pull out the bigger stems and keep your dried herb in a mason jar for tea.  Especially good with ginger and lemon grass.

All will be shared over at Beth Fish Reads for her Weekend Cooking event.  Check out some good suggestions, both for cooking and reading.

Lasagna Fazzoletti al Pesto

This is a reprise of sorts.  In my earlier post I made a Chicken Fazzoletti Lasagna.  This dish is vegetarian, with Pesto sauce and cheese.

 Fazzoletti, or face towels, are my pasta of choice if making from scratch.  Quick, easy and just yummy. The bomb in fact.  They make you look really competent.  And after all, what working woman has time to make innumerable fussy little pasta shapes.

As I advised myself in that earlier post, this time I first cut the dough in half before cutting again into four.  I am cooking for two people here, so ignore if you need more pasta.  Also as noted earlier, I rolled the dough much thinner this time around, the secret to a successful result.  And, doing it in a more relaxed way, by starting early.  If you want to watch Chef Laboa making the pesto and pasta, it will be more involved, but a fun watch.  He uses a mortar and pestle for the pesto, I go for the food processor.

Pesto with Pasta

 Just in case you, as I have a tendency to do, think shopping in your very favorite Natural Foods store is, or should be a foolproof experience, forget it already.  No one here is owning up to who actually bought the cheese in question.  It was either him or I.  But, in any case, shouldn't have been in that place at all.  Here are the rules, according to the if-it-looks-like-a-duck theory (if you'll hang in there with my rant):

1. If it looks like orange processed cheese,
2. If it tastes like processed cheese,
3. It resists mold beautifully,
4. It will stay in a tidy little square when heated,
Guess what, it is processed cheese.  Duh. So much for that.  Do what you will with it.  Maybe you love processed cheese.  In that case, my apologies.

I have gone over these salient facts with the employees of said store, with a request for proper labeling.  This was labeled "Smoked Sharp Cheddar."  And, do you know what I was told?  No, you don't.  So, I'll tell you.  That cheese is our very best seller!  Yes, folks, true, which fact, you would scarcely believe from checking out the customers here.  Perhaps we're dealing with a throwback to childhoods in less enlightened times.  The flavors of mommy's kitchen?  Comfort food?  End of rant.

You have heard about a picture being worth a 1000 words, right?  Well, this little video says it all about the perfect Pesto and the perfect Pasta. Just watch Chef Paolo Laboa prepare both, you'll see what I mean.  So, that was my goal this week.  To do both, perfectly.

All that aside, this very (seemingly) simple pasta dish was quite lovely.  And, I made the pasta twice, improving on my technique and getting the dough thinner.  Next time will be even better, I'm sure.  It was not all that difficult.  There are good video instructions here on rolling the dough out, which the above mentioned chef neglects to completely show us.  Plus, I can see that this will make lasagna a more feasible operation in future  (for me anyway).  Look for it next week.

So, the first thing to do is to make your favorite Pesto.  Having a nice bunch of CSA kale, as well as a bunch of basil, I made a combination Kale Basil Pesto.

Pesto Penne

This is Pesto with a difference - yes, yet AGAIN.  But hey, Pesto is one of those cooking basics that can be endlessly reinterpreted, which is a good thing.  Because we've got an ongoing need to use up things creatively, not letting good stuff go to waste, right?  So, this time it is Russian kale and sorrel pesto with walnuts, walnut oil and some fresh mint.  Each time, I think, THIS IS IT, the ultimate pesto. But, probably I'll never be content to just stick with one recipe.

It made a great lunch, tossed with penne and a few of the cooked white beans from another fabulous recipe.  One I found to use the first bunch of my CSA sorrel.  I still had some left, which was the motivation here.

Kale or your Favorite Green Pesto Pasta

Kale and Beet Greens Pesto

With our weekly allotment of CSA produce, mostly greens, there is a resultant weekly challenge, called using up the greens before Saturday when the new ones arrive.  I do not have a gigantic refrigerator, there is only so much room in it.  The good side of this, is stepping outside the cooking boxes ruts we find ourselves in occasionally, even if that only applies to certain vegetables.  Maybe no one else finds it such a challenge, but believe me, it is around here.  Early on I had determined there would be nothing left from the previous week by Saturday morning.

As an example of trying new things, this week it was Kale and Beet Greens Pesto.  The beets were not from our CSA box, but were so beautiful at the store, that I could not resist, with tops that were equally fine. Both big bunches were reduced down to that little container you see above.  I blanched the kale first for about 6 minutes, and added in the beet greens for another minute, then gave them both an ice bath, to keep their lovely vibrant color.

Pesto Devils

This marvelous snack came about because of excess Pesto.  Is it really possible to have an overabundance of Pesto?  The thing is you don't want to keep it for too long.  You could stand at the kitchen counter and just eat what's left by the spoonful, but thankfully,  there are other options.  

To begin at the beginning, we have Lemon Basil.  Cutting it back so that it will keep producing, gives us amounts sufficient for Pesto.  Lemon Basil Pesto with Macadamia nuts, to be exact, adapted from Alice Waters' Pesto recipe in The Art of Simple Food.

Lightly toast the mac nuts to bring out their nuttiest flavor, then proceed:

 Ingredients

2 cups lemon basil (or other variety) leaves, lightly packed

1 clove garlic, peeled

Kosher salt

1/4 cup macadamia nuts, lightly toasted

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Whir in your food processor - or pound and grind away in a mortar and pestle, depending upon your craving for authenticity.  One day I'll have to try the mortar and pestle version so I really know from authentic.

While whirring, slowly add

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil or macadamia nut oil.

Taste and adjust for salt if needed.  Will keep 3 days or so, refrigerated with plastic wrap touching onto the pesto.

OK, now you've served it with your pasta, as a side with a lovely vegetable and Feta Frittata ( as I did), or perhaps with grilled chicken.  Then, say you have about a 1/3 cup or so left?  It is at this point, Deviled Eggs may start calling to you.  Sunday afternoon, and still without lunch, that's exactly what happened.  I leaped up and put some eggs on to boil.

After slicing them lengthwise, remove the yolks, mash well, add the pesto, a scoop of full-fat (only way to go) yogurt, a scoop of mayonnaise and dash of salt.  Mix well and stuff.  Eat and enjoy.  Should be called angelic.