Mise en Place

It’s been so hot around here, I’m not even hungry every night. On days where I have a very late lunch, cooking doesn't always appeal. However, looking ahead to a busy few nights, I know I should at least make a few things…easier on myself for later in the week.

It’s a perfect time to chop, slice and process a few things…no cooking required!

My first stop – slicing up some veggies for use later in the week. I do not do this will ALL veggies, but some are just fine. In this instance, I took a few hot peppers and some garlic and sliced them, then chopped a few slices as well. This can be the basis of a dressing, or a spicy Thai-style dish, or generally anything I want to be spicy and pungent. If tomatoes magically appear in my world any time soon, this could go in my gazpacho too!

Next up, I had some lovely Italian basil, and some sprigs of Thai basil as well. While I can use Thai basil in those spicy dishes I mention, above, the Italian basil is begging to be made into pesto – especially since I finally found some pine nuts! I put the basil in the cuisinart mini-prep with some parmesan, some salt and freshly ground pepper, and some toasted pine nuts. This time, I toasted them in a skillet on the stovetop, but you can also toast them in the microwave too – they key, using either method, is to monitor them carefully to ensure they don’t burn.

After a few pulses of the cuisinart, I added a few glugs (yes, that’s a technical term) of olive oil, and whirred it again. I scraped it a few times, tasted, adjusted with salt and pepper, and added an additional dollop of oil. Voila…pesto!

I put it in a pyrex container with an airtight lid, topped with a little extra oil to maintain the freshness, and it’s in the fridge, waiting for use.

The last little adventure in not cooking was cucumber…in preparation for the next night’s dinner.

Feeding a Crowd

It was recently Family Day at work, and in my group we always do a pot-luck luncheon, as not everyone has family attending the event. Knowing we needed more hearty main dishes, I thought about what I could make (more or less) at home, ahead of time that transports well and that would be good to eat!

I started with some store-bought cheese tortellini, cooked and drained them. I mixed in a couple teaspoons of olive oil to prevent sticking. I then chopped tomatoes (fresh) and roasted red peppers (from a can). I also tore some arugula and basil leaves for inclusion in the pasta. Finally, I marinated some perline mozzarella (little balls of mozzarella) in balsamic vinegar, a little olive oil, salt and freshly ground pepper. I also planned to use the last of my pesto on the tortellini.

Perline mozzarella marinating in balsamic vinegar, oil and seasonings.

I packed it up separately, with the mozzarella in one container, the pasta with some tomatoes and peppers in another, and the rest of the peppers and tomatoes, with the arugula and basil on top of it, in a third container. They were all in the fridge overnight at home. After the drive to work, I put the pasta and mozzarella in the fridge at work, but left the tomatoes, peppers and greens container out.

The tortellini with pesto, tomatoes and roasted peppers.

When it came time to serve, I simply mixed it all together in a large bowl, using the marinade from the mozzarella to dress the salad. It tasted fresh and flavorful, and was a nice, lighter treat on a hot day. The leftovers kept well enough that I even ate the rest (over three more meals)!

The finished dish.

Presto Pesto!

This week in my CSA goodies, I got a large handful of basil! I adore fresh pesto, and was excited to make some pesto with the fresh basil!

In my kitchen, I always make the pesto with basil, and perhaps a little parsley if I have it on hand. Often pesto recipes call for a mix of basil and parsley, as the basil has a sharper flavor...but I like it!

I began by toasting some nuts. Normally I use pine nuts, but I only had hazelnuts at home this time. I put them in a pan over medium-high heat, and let them start to get fragrant. Then I tossed them in the pan for a minute or so, until the skins began to darken.

Toasted hazelnuts, with their skins.

After they were toasted, I rubbed them in a paper towel to help remove the skins, and put about a handful of the toasted hazelnuts in my food processor. I added the leaves from my large handful of basil, about a two-inch chunk of fresh parmigiano-reggiano cheese, and some olive oil. I blitzed it for a minute or so.

Blitz de pesto!

At this point, I also put two garlic scapes in the oven at 350 to roast a bit. After about 15 minutes, they were soft and fragrant. I cut off the tender, curled ends, and tossed those soft, garlicky stems into the processor as well, with some additional basil leaves from the potted basil plant from the first week. [Side note: I am VERY proud of myself for keeping all three potted plants alive!]

Garlic scapes, basil and goodness.

I continued to pour a slow stream of oil into the processor until the pesto reached the right consistency, almost creamy and smooth, with small chunks of basil. It looked beautiful! At this point, I put on some water to boil for some store-bought cheese ravioli. When it was done cooking and drained, I put a few dollops of pesto into the pan and swirled it around. I put the leftover pesto in a little pyrex dish I have with a lid, and poured a little extra oil over it to keep it from drying out or oxidizing too much and turning black (it still tastes the same, but it is not very pretty!). I plated my ravioli and pesto and put a few shavings of parm on top...yum!

Mmm...ravioli, parm and pesto!