Fresh Spinach "pesto" (and what to do with it)

 I was in the mood for pesto last week.  Two problems, though.  My wee little basil plants had maybe a cup of leaves between the four of them, and pinenuts happen to be insanely expensive at the moment.  So I started rooting around in my fridge and came up with a faux pesto.  My sister is an avid gardener and gave me some garlic scapes a couple days prior, so I incorporated them in to the recipe with excellent results.  I'm assuming that most of the rest of you don't have garlic growing in your garden, so use regular fresh garlic cloves instead.  Garlic scapes grow out of the middle of young garlic plants and need to be trimmed off or else the garlic bulb growth will be stunted.  They have a firm stalk and pleasantly mild garlic flavor, perfect for this particular recipe.

Fresh Spinach Pesto


1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 cups packed fresh spinach leaves
2 ounces freshly shredded parmesan or romano cheese
1 large garlic scape, chopped OR 2-3 large cloves garlic, chopped
olive oil
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the almonds for about 5 minutes, until they just begin to turn lightly brown and smell fragrant.  Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes.  Then layer the nuts, spinach, cheese and garlic in a blender or food processor.  Drizzle in enough oil to allow easy blending but not soupiness (about 1/4-1/3 cup), and pulse the blender or food processor several times until everything is finely chopped and well blended but still has some texture.  Add kosher salt and coarse pepper to taste.  Chill until ready to eat.

 Besides eating the spinach pesto with a spoon right out of the food processor because it's so delicious, you can toss it together with pasta, grilled chicken and grilled veggies.  Absolutely delicious!  And you know what?   My kids had no clue they were eating so much spinach!  It's not something that they readily eat, but they do like regular basil pesto and they didn't notice the difference because I stirred in a handful of julienned basil leaves too to add that flavor in.

To make this dish, I doused two chicken breasts, a couple of cups of grape tomatoes, and two red peppers that were quartered and cored in balsamic vinaigrette dressing.  I like Newman's Own brand when I'm too lazy to make a batch myself.  I grilled the chicken, basting it with more dressing a couple of times during cooking, and added the peppers to the grill skin side down for the last 5 or so minutes of grill time.  Meanwhile, I cooked up half a package of linguine.  Once the chicken and peppers were done, I removed them to cut into thin slices, then dumped the tomatoes on to the hot grill.  They softened up within 30 seconds and got a few nice little char marks.  I removed them right away.  I drained, then dumped the pasta into a large serving bowl, stirred the pesto in thoroughly, then added the tomatoes, peppers, chicken and a handful of julienned basil leaves and carefully stirred it all together.  I finished it off with a dusting of finely shredded parmesan cheese and it was a delicious summertime supper that everyone devoured (except for my almost 4 year old, but her opinion doesn't count on these sorts of things).

Summer Sunshine Pasta

I went foraging in the gardens of my generous family members (ours was a wash this year with the whole kitchen project thing - we had no idea how much the house construction would tear up the yard), and found dozens of sweet, ripe, delicious orange and red cherry tomatoes.  The wheels in my brain immediately started turning as I plotted what to do with them.  Lots of possibilities.  I settled on a pasta dish that can be served warm or cold, and it was delicious.

While I prepared the other ingredients, I drizzled olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the bowl full of tomatoes along with chunks of soft fresh mozzarella.  The perlini size balls would have been perfect - I just couldn't find them when I went looking.  If you're not a fan of fresh mozzarella, freshly shredded parmesan would be great too.

I like to make a nice balance of flavors and textures.  Something salty, something sweet, something crunchy.  All really good stuff.  I've recently discovered grilling bacon, an idea born of sheer laziness a few weeks ago when I wanted to cook a few strips, already had the grill fired up, and wasn't in the mood to pan fry it.  I learned the hard way that it's not advisable to put it on the lower rack next to the flame because the first couple of strips turned out rather carbonacious and the resulting blazing inferno was quite impressive.  It does, however, work nicely on the top rack.  Just don't go too far - it cooks up quickly.  For this recipe, I put the chicken on the bottom rack and the bacon right above it so that the drippings would help flavor the chicken.  Absolutely delicious!

Tomatoes and basil pretty much have to go together.  I think there's a law about it somewhere.

The finished product.  A symphony of flavors, and nice and light for a summer evening.  My older daughter tried cherry tomatoes for the first time in her life while I was making this, discovered that she liked them, and tried to eat all of them before they made it into the bowl.  My theory that you just have to keep offering kids the same thing over and over and over again before deciding that they'll really never eat it holds true yet again.

Summer Sunshine Pasta

1/2 a box of farfalle pasta (I prefer Barilla Plus)
3 chicken breasts, thawed and butterflied
6 strips bacon
3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half
1 cup cubed fresh mozzarella cheese
20 leaves fresh basil, sliced into thin strips
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Cook pasta according to al dente, then drain well.  Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix together the cheese and tomatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil, and stir gently to coat.  Then drizzle about 3 T. balsamic vinegar, and again stir gently to coat.  Preheat a BBQ grill, season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper, and place them on the lower rack of the grill.  Place the bacon strips directly over the chicken on the upper rack.  Check the bacon after 5 minutes and turn if necessary.  Flip the chicken over at about 7 minutes, or when the bottom shows nice grill marks and the top is opaque.  Remove the bacon when it's cooked to your desired crispness.  Grill the chicken an additional 5 or so minutes or until the juices run clear when poked.  Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes before cutting into thin strips.

In a large bowl, pour the drained pasta noodles in and drizzle with olive oil.  Toss lightly to coat.  Dump in the tomatoes and cheese, along with the oil and vinegar in the bottom of the bowl, the chicken strips, basil and crumble the bacon over the top.  Stir everything gently to coat and correct seasoning as desired with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.

This amount will serve about 6 people.

Fast fixing appetizer - Caprese Bites

Ever have one of those panic moments when you find out that you're supposed to take an appetizer to a party that's only a couple hours out?  Yeah...that might have happened to me this week.  I am pleased to say that my kitchen is finally almost in working condition, and that the only major appliance I am now lacking is the cook top, but I didn't feel like heating the house up to bake anything.  The solution was a four ingredient favorite and so simple to assemble that a kid could do it.  For this particular batch, I used cubed aged mozzarella cheese rather than the divine fresh stuff, but that was only because Costco failed me on the fresh mozzarella front that day.  I much prefer it, but either way it's tasty.  I am not listing quantities because that entirely depends on how many you want to make, and I trust that you can figure out how to count out equal amounts of cheese, tomatoes and basil leaves.

Caprese Bites

Mozarella cheese, either fresh small balls or aged cut into 3/4" cubes
Grape tomatoes
Balsamic vinaigrette salad dressing of your choice
Fresh basil leaves

Drizzle the salad dressing over the mozarella cheese and tomatoes in a medium bowl until evenly coated.  On round (non-colored) tooth picks, thread a tomato, a basil leaf and a piece of cheese.  Chill until serving time.

Sun Dried Tomato Penne Bake

This is one of those random creations that I put together that turned out well enough that it warrants duplicating.  I have a problem with creativity in the kitchen.  Stuff turns out tasty, and then I can't remember what I put in it when I want to make it again.  That's half the reason I started food blogging!  Anyway, back to this recipe.  This is a concept that is very adaptable and I think would be totally amazing with some grilled zucchini, fresh basil or roasted tomatoes in the height of summer.  I meant to put asparagus in it but totally spaced it...I'll have to make it that way next time.  You can also easily prepare it in advance and pop it into the oven right before dinner.  I made two pans full of it, one so that I could feed my family at the usual time, and a second for a batch of visitors that were later in coming, and it worked out just fine.

Sun Dried Tomato Penne Bake

1/2 pound penne pasta, cooked al dente and drained (I prefer Barilla Plus pasta)

2 chicken breasts

kosher salt, freshly ground pepper

3 T. each lemon juice and honey

1 cup sun dried tomato strips packed in oil

10 mushrooms

2 T. butter

1/2 cup shredded real bacon

3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

3/4 cup cream

1/4 cup pine nuts

Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper and grill over medium high heat for about 7 minutes on each side.  Before you turn them over for the first time, baste them with a mixture of lemon juice and honey, then baste again right after turning and one last time a minute or so before you take them off the heat.  Set aside on a plate covered with foil to rest for a few minutes before slicing.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mist a 9x13 pan with cooking spray and pour the drained penne into the pan.  Meanwhile, heat up a large skillet over medium heat, add the butter and let it melt, then add the mushrooms and saute until just starting to turn golden.  Season with salt and pepper, toss in the bacon bits just to heat them up, then pull the pan off the heat. 

Pulse the sun dried tomatoes in a food processor until loosely pureed.  Slice the chicken breasts into thin strips.  Stir the chicken breast strips, sundried tomatoes, mushrooms and bacon gently into the pasta until everything is well combined.  Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the top of it all, then drizzle the cream evenly over the top of the cheese.  Sprinkle the pine nuts on top and cover with foil.

Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes, until heated through and the cheese is melted, then turn the broiler on high and broil for 3-5 minutes until the cheese and pine nuts are nicely golden and toasted.  Serve immediately.  (If you put it in the fridge for a while before cooking, you may need to add an extra 5-10 minutes of cook time.)

Hearty roasted southwest chicken soup

I have long sought a recipe for chicken tortilla soup that's hearty rather than brothy, packs a robust flavor into the bowl, and doesn't call for "cream of fill-in-the-blank" soup (banned from my kitchen, I'm afraid). The frost propelled us to clear out the last of the peppers and tomatoes from the garden, yielding bags full of each. We froze a bunch of the peppers until we got tired of chopping, and stashed the remaining couple dozen jalapenos in the fridge. I mulled over what to do with them all day and around 3 in the afternoon, started experimenting. This soup requires some advance planning, but it is not difficult. It is very nutritious and a great way to get some veggies into your kids. And it is delicious! Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Chicken Soup for the Soul

15 roma tomatoes, sliced in half vertically and seeds removed
1 large purple onion, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch wedges
8 cloves of garlic, peeled
olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

Prepare the veggies as above, then spread out on a jelly roll pan, drizzle with olive oil, toss lightly to coat, and face all of the tomatoes cut side up. Tuck the garlic into some of the tomatoes, sprinkle everything with salt and pepper, then roast in the oven at 300 degrees for 2 hours. No stirring required - just walk away.

When it's done, it should look like this. Meanwhile, prepare the chicken and jalapenos on the grill:

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed
cumin, coriander, chipotle chili powder, garlic powder
1 lime
8-10 jalapeno peppers

Sprinkle each chicken breast with the seasonings. Place the jalapenos and the chicken breasts on a preheated grill and cook for 8 minutes over medium heat. Rotate the jalapenos to get even browning of the skins, and remove them once they begin to split. Before turning the chicken breasts over, squeeze half a lime over them to moisten the spices. Cook for an additional 8 minutes, or until the juices run clear. Remove to a plate to allow the juices to settle before cutting each breast into thin strips across the grain, then chop the strips into 4ths. Slice the stem end off each jalapeno, cut lengthwise, and remove the seeds.

Do not fear the jalapeno. This may seem like an outrageous number of the feisty little buggers, but the grilling and subsequent simmering mellows the heat to almost zero. If my 2 year old can eat the soup without complaining, so can you.

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Next, pull out an 8 quart soup pot. Scrape all of the tomatoes, onions and garlic in, and toss in the jalapenos. You will now need:

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2 cans chicken stock

1 cup corn, frozen or canned (drain first)

1 can black beans (rinsed and drained)

1/2 t. each oregano, cumin, coriander and if you're feeling spicy, chipotle chili powder

1/4 t. smoked salt (you can substitute liquid smoke, but add it cautiously and taste after every few drops - we're just trying to round out the flavor, not overwhelm it!)

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

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Pour the chicken stock into the pot with the veggies and use an immersion blender to puree it all until smooth. If you'd like your soup runnier, add another can of stock. Stir in the corn, black beans, diced chicken, seasonings, and adjust to taste. Simmer on medium low for 5-10 minutes to allow the flavors to meld, then stir in the fresh cilantro and squeeze the other half the lime in just before serving.

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Serve with avocado wedges, lime wedges (this one is really important - the kick of fresh lime squeezed into your bowl is just awesome), grated jack or chedder cheese, sour cream, and tortilla chips. This quantity will serve 4- 6, depending on how hearty the servings are.

Thyme Roasted Tomatoes

I can't get enough of roasted tomatoes. I know I already posted these recently as part of another recipe post, but I think they deserve their own spot. They are so, so good! I made another batch yesterday with some fresh thyme from my garden, and this time I cut back the sugar. It may be tempting to turn up the heat and do these faster, but you're missing out on a lot of flavor if you do. I tossed these with farfalle pasta, fresh pesto and honey lemon glazed grilled chicken for a very delicious dinner, and that was on the heels of making an ooey gooey grilled cheese on sourdough for lunch with a layer of cream cheese spread on the inside of each slice of bread, followed by a generous sprinkle of shredded cheddar cheese, thinly sliced ribbons of fresh basil leaves and a layer of tomatoes. Absolute heaven!

Roasted tomatoes:

A pan full of romas, sliced in half lengthwise and seeds removed

Olive oil

Kosher salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 t. raw sugar

Several sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves stripped

Drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes and toss until lightly and uniformly coated. Sprinkle the seasonings over the top and slow roast at 275 degrees for 2 1/2-3 hours, until they look like the picture above and are just starting to lightly brown on the bottom. They are best in other recipes if allowed to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes while the juices settle. Refrigerate any unused portion.

Cooked Salsa #1

After giving away the majority of the tomatoes from our garden this year, and then realizing that we're on the downhill slide of the crop, I decided to try my hand at a batch of cooked salsa for the first time. The simplicity of prep appeals to me, plus it's a great way to reduce a whole lot of produce down into a flavorful concentrated pot of deliciousness. Like most salsas, this is an inexact science. I am giving you the concept, you can do with it what you like. I opted to grill a lot of the peppers for an extra kick of flavor, and I would definitely do that again. It also happens to reduce the spiciness of the hot ones, so I found myself adding spice back in with chipotle chili flakes and raw fresh peppers. It still turned out to be a low-medium heat over all, a characteristic of cooked salsas that's difficult to overcome short of adding a habanero. I also cooked mine for a while because I prefer it to be on the thicker side - none of this watery soupy stuff for me, thank you. Alan deemed it to be "very good", and took most of it to work to gain popularity among his coworkers. I plan on trying another batch soon.

2 gallons whole roma tomatoes, pulp and seeds removed and coarsely chopped
1 dozen jalapeno peppers
5 anaheim chili peppers
3 bell peppers, seeded and coarsely chopped
10 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
3 large shallots or 1 small onion, coarsely chopped
3 limes
2 T. sugar
2 T. salt (may need more, taste at the end and add if necessary)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
1 T. chipotle chili flakes or 1/2 T. chipotle chili powder (adjust according to taste and heat preference)

Place the tomatoes in a large stockpot and bring them up to a simmer over medium heat. Meanwhile, grill the jalapenos and anaheim peppers until lightly charred and on all sides. Remove them to a plate and allow them to cool for a few minutes before removing the core and seeds, then coarsely chopping and adding them to the pot. Add the bell peppers, garlic, and shallots to the pot, along with the sugar and salt, give it a good stir and let it simmer for about 30 minutes. Squeeze the three limes in, then use an immersion blender to pulse it until it forms a sloppy and slightly chunky puree. Add the chipotle and fresh cilantro, and adjust the salt if needed. If you want more heat, puree 3-4 fresh jalapenos with a cup of the salsa in a separate container and stir it in. Ladle into containers and allow to cool at room temperature for an hour or so before refrigerating. You may hot water bath can this, or it'll keep in your fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Tuscan Roasted Tomato Pesto Pasta

I've been mulling over exactly how to make this dish for several days, eyeing my now suddenly prolific roma tomato bushes. The basil didn't do so hot this year in our yard, but a neighbor has an abundance, so I took advantage of her generosity this week and picked a bag full, anticipating a wonderful batch of homemade pesto. This is a dinner that requires planning ahead, though none of the steps are difficult. Roasted tomatoes are worth the effort. The sweetness of the roasted tomatoes is balanced perfectly by the bold flavors of the pesto and the salty bacon. I would classify this dinner in the "deeply satisfying" category, and the fact that my two year old begged for fourths should tell you something. Make it for company and they'll think you're a culinary genius all while you're laughing behind your hand because it's really quite simple.

Pesto is one of those things that I just eyeball. First, I would highly recommend doing this in a food processor, not a blender. I, unfortunately, do not own a food processor, so I was forced to wrangle and mash and grit my teeth through a 45 minute mess in the blender. Irritating, because it would really only take 5minutes start to finish in a food processor.

3 cups of packed basil leaves (washed and stems removed)

2/3 cup pine nuts

2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese

3-4 cloves garlic, peeled

kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

olive oil - enough to allow it to blend freely, but not be soupy

Place all of these ingredients in a food processor and drizzle a generous amount of oil on top. Pulse several times until it is coarsely chopped, adding more oil as necessary. Pulse a few more times until it is finely chopped. Scoop into containers to freeze or refrigerate, covering with a very thin layer of oil to preserve the fresh green color, or use immediately.

Voila! Pesto!

Next up are the roasted tomatoes. I started these in the early afternoon, because they take 2 1/2 to 3 hours to roast properly. You can crank up the heat to speed them up, but I've found that results in burned bottoms and not as awesome of flavor.

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Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.

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Slice 1 dozen roma tomatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out the seedy pulp, leaving the core intact. Drizzle lightly in olive oil and toss to coat, then face them cut side up on a baking sheet. Sprinkle kosher salt, a few grinds of pepper and 1 T. raw sugar evenly over the top.

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Bake for 2 1/2 - 3 hours, or until the bottoms are beginning to brown, the tops are soft and shriveled, and the aroma causes you to snitch one right off the pan. (For that matter, fill the whole pan, because you'll be sorely tempted to eat more than one. I used a dozen for the dinner recipe, but made double that.) Roasted tomatoes will keep for a few days tightly covered in the refrigerator, and make an absolutely amazing grilled cheese on sourdough.

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Now for the dinner. Start a pot of water boiling and fire up the grill.

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1/2 pound penne pasta, cooked to al dente

2 chicken breasts

kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, garlic powder

3 T. apple cider vinegar

2 T. honey

3 strips bacon, fried until crisp and crumbled (optional)

12 roasted roma tomatoes (24 halves), sliced into wide strips

1/2 cup fresh pesto (store bought or homemade)

1/4 parmesan cheese

fresh basil leaves for garnish

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Add the pasta to the pot of boiling water. Butterfly the chicken breasts and sprinkle the salt, pepper and garlic on the cut sides. Grill on each side for about 8 minutes until cooked through, basting with a mixture of vinegar and honey. Set aside to let the juices rest for a few minutes, then slice into thin strips.

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Once the pasta is done cooking, drain and pour into a large serving bowl. Add the pesto and toss until the pasta is evenly coated. Add the tomatoes, crumbled bacon and chicken, and carefully toss again until evenly distributed. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, add basil leaves for garnish and serve immediately.

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Edited to add that apparently Sara and Kate were on the same wavelength as me this week! Check out their post here about fresh pesto, including a similar, but quicker version of this dinner.