Sun-dried Tomato Pesto

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I had a craving for a deep tomato flavor, but since tomatoes still aren't at their vine-ripened peak, I thought I would pull out this recipe from the repertoire to use for a weeknight meal.  Simple, quality ingredients, easy to prepare, a variety of applications and tons of flavor?  Now that's a recipe that I like. This is an excellent sauce to have on hand to toss with pasta for a quick meal or use as a topping to sautéed or grilled fish and/or chicken.  It also makes for a nice spread on country bread or crostini.  Use it as condiment for sandwiches or panini.  Better yet, use it as an ingredient into a wonderful main dish salad dressing (just a little hint for my next post).  Stay tuned...

Raw Asparagus Pesto

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With an 8 1/2 week old puppy scampering through the house needing to be let outside every 15 minutes for potty training, not much time has been left for me to be in the kitchen this week.  I needed something quick with little to no cooking.  I also wanted something that would take advantage of the seasonal produce at the market.  I hit both marks (not to mention excellent taste and nutrition) with this recipe!

The asparagus is processed raw, so no cooking is required.  I used sliced almonds instead of pine nuts and fresh flat-leaf parsley for a lemony note. One of the great things about pesto is the versatility factor.  This raw asparagus pesto is a shining example.  You can toss it with hot pasta for a quick weeknight meal, slather it on a crostini for a light snack or appetizer, or use it as a sandwich spread.  My favorite way to enjoy this vegetable condiment is to toast a slice of country bread, spread on a nice layer of pesto, top with thinly sliced ham and some Gruyère cheese, then place a perfectly poached egg right on top.  Grab your knife and fork and dig in!

Oh and the score factor-- it is a great way to sneak a vegetable into a child's diet ☺.

Sun-Dried Tomato and Spinach Torta

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The holidays bring houses filled with people.  Hungry people.  That makes this time of year the perfect time to share this recipe.  You can make it the day before then leave it out for your guests to serve themselves-- perfect for entertaining!

A mixture of cream cheese, parmesan, and feta make up the main body of the torta.  Part of the cheese mixture is mixed with spinach and layered in the middle with sun-dried tomatoes.  The edges are covered with toasted pine nuts.  The whole torta is then topped with a basil pesto and a few extra sun-dried tomatoes for garnish.  The layers of red, white and green make it festive for the holidays, but the real beauty is in the flavor.  Serve with crackers or crostini-- I highly recommend the crostini.

The recipe makes a large 8-inch torta--enough to keep a hungry crowd at bay for a while.  As we are a family of five, I cut the recipe in half and used a mini spring-form pan from my children's baking kit.  Even though I halved the recipe, we still had some for leftovers.  Not wanting to waste, I turned the leftovers into a hearty panini.  I will certainly be making the torta again.  It does the job as an appetizer.  The leftovers go the extra mile.

Let's see-- basil pesto, roasted chicken breast, pancetta, fresh baby spinach, and a good schmear of the leftover torta.  Not sure what to call it other than good stuff!  I have included the panini suggestion in the recipe below.  Just add the amounts according to your own taste. 

Soupe au Pistou

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After all the holiday parties are over, the presents are put away, and the decorations are taken down, there is one thing that I look forward to immediately after the New Year. That thing is walking out onto my front stoop, opening up the mailbox and retrieving that first of many garden/seed catalogues.  It is actually a love/hate feeling.  I love looking at the pictures, dreaming and designing my 2011 kitchen garden, but I hate the fact that I still have to wait what seems like an eternity until the first frost-free date. And where I live, that date falls in the month of May!  

The catalogue that I received yesterday had the most beautiful looking sliced tomato on the cover.  It made me think of walking past my tomato plants and smelling that tomato vine smell--so earthy, so wonderful.  And then I thought of the large pots of basil planted nearby.  Mmm...basil and tomatoes, how I miss that fresh summer taste.

Fortunately, I can still enjoy that taste of basil and tomatoes in the dead of winter and it is in this soup.  Soupe au Pistou is a French Provençal vegetable soup made with a pistou.  Like the Italian pesto, a pistou is a "pounded" sauce of garlic, basil and cheese (I like to use a bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice)..  And since I have some frozen basil piston that I made in the freezer from the end of last year's harvest, this soup is on the menu tonight.

I make the soup base with chicken broth, onions, potatoes and carrots.  I then add some haricots verts (french green beans), navy beans, and broken spaghetti noodles and season with a bit of saffron.  To add body to the sauce I crumble in a piece of day old white bread.  But what really gives this soup a lovely fresh taste and velvety texture is stirring in a mixture of tomato paste and pesto. Ladle into bowls and serve with crusty white bread--it is the next best thing to walking in my garden when it is 20º degrees outside.