Saturday, August 8, 2009

Presto pesto


Yum! Doesn't that just look delicious?!?! I mentioned yesterday that I had gotten arugular instead of spinach by accident, but I used to it to my advantage by making an easy but very tasty arugula pesto last night.
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Pesto recipe:
- 1/2 c. pine nuts (this gives it that distinct "pesto" taste I think, but other nuts would be good too, such as walnuts)
- 1/4 c. EVOO
- 3 very loosely packed c. arugula (hard to measure but that's my guesstimate)
-1 T. lemon juice
- 1 T. minced garlic (or less if you aren't a garlic fiend like me)
- salt and pepper to taste
- Blend all ingredients in the FP (if you have a big one you can just throw them all in together; I have a mini so I would recommend adding in the arugula last and in stages)
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YUM. I wish I had more arugula to make more of this! I will definitely be making it again.
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For pizza night last night, Mike's pie involved:
- homemade pasta sauce
- mozzarella cheese
- caramelized onions
- black olives
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Mine was a bit more complicated:
- the sauce on half the pizza
- the other half had the arugula pesto as its base, no sauce
- the sauce part was covered in vegan cheese, both mozz and cheddar
- a small piece of the pesto section had cheese
- a small part of the pesto portion had sauce AND cheese
- everything had black olives and capers
Yikes - wouldn't that make a terrible word problem on the SAT's?!? I was so weird about the toppings because I wanted to experiment to see what topping combos I liked the best, and I was worried that the tomato sauce on top of the pesto would drown out the rich but subtle flavors in the pesto.
My verdict was that vegan cheese is great on some things - like crackers or tomato slices - but not on pizza. I felt like it really took away from the fresh flavors of the homemade sauce and pesto. My favorite was just the pesto with the olives and capers..... mmmmmm....

I had a ton of pizza for dinner so that was all that I ate last night.... and thankfully I was able to make it an early night since this morning I had my early long run..... posting on that to come soon! :)

6 comments:

  1. I love pesto! Thanks for the funny story on my post! It made me smile!

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  2. love me some pesto - especially on pizza!

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  3. pesto and pizza - delicious!

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  4. mmm! looks fantastic! hope the the run went ok!!

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  5. I don't trust myself around homemade pesto! I love garlicky stuff so much that I just eat it from the bowl!

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  6. I love love love pesto, but I've never done arugula, only spinach or basil or both!

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