Pesto - The Other Pasta Sauce

Pesto is a tasty alternative to tomato sauce when you're cooking pasta. It's herby, nutty, cheesy and quick to throw together.  If you're growing your own basil, pesto is also a great way to use it up and freezes extremely well. Just pour it into a container, adda thin layer of oil to the top, and freeze.

Ingredients:
1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 c. chopped walnuts (see note below)
3 garlic cloves, peeled
1 c. loosely packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese (parmigiano reggiano would be best)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper

Note:  Some classic pesto recipes call for pine nuts, not walnuts.  Pine nuts are ridculously expensive (around $6.00 for a 1 cup bag) and walnuts costs signifcantly less.  To me, the flavor is the same, and you're saving a lot of money!

Directions:
1. Heat the oil, nuts, and garlic cloves in a skillet over medium heat.


2. While the oil is heating, place the basil, cheese, salt, and pepper in a food processor or blender.

3. When the oil starts to sizzle, remove the skillet from the heat (you're just heating the oil and lightly toasting the garlic and nuts). Add the garlic and nuts to the basil mixture. Pour the oil into a measuring cup or other container with a pourable spout.

4. Turn on the food processor/blender and let it run until the mixture is finely chopped. Slowly stream in the oil until a homogenous mixture is formed.  It should be a thin paste, not a runny sauce.

At this point, give it a taste. One of the best things about pesto is that it's very forgiving and you can play with the amount of ingredients as needed. Add more basil, salt, pepper or cheese to get it to the flavor you want. If it's too thick, stream in some more oil to loosen it up.

Enjoy!

Severed Finger Cookes

Just in time for Halloween!
The recipe is from Every Day with Rachael Ray magazine.  If I made them again, I'd add either lemon zest or almond extract to the batter.

Sunday Sunset Raspberry Peach Cocktail

1 shot peach liquor (such as 99 peaches)
1 shot raspberry schnapps (such as DeKuyper)
1 c. club soda

Mix ingredients in a shaker with ice. 

Strain, serve, and enjoy

Smoked BBQ on a Gas Grill? It's Possible!

I made Memphis Style Barbecued Ribs last night (the recipe was from America's Test Kitchen.)  It was the first time I ever tried smoking meat on my gas grill.  The setup was pretty easy; just some soaked hickory wood chips in an aluminum pie plate over one burner, and 2 more aluminum pie plates filled with water on the other burners.

The ribs developed a great crust, thanks to the spice rub, and had a great smoky flavor.  I'm looking forward to trying out more smoked meat recipes. One of the things I really like about americastestkitchen.com and cooksillustrated.com is whenever they have a recipe for the grill, they include directions for both charcoal and gas.  Happy Grilling!

Chicken Pot Pie with Puff Pastry Crust

2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into 1-inch chunks
3 Tbsp. butter
3 leeks, sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
3 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1/4 c. all purpose flour
3/4 c. milk
3/4 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley
1 tsp. Penzey's Northwoods Seasoning (optional)
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
cooking spray
salt
pepper

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Heat olive oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet.  Sprinkle the chicken with salt and pepper. Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally until chicken is no longer pink. Remove pan from heat and place chicken in baking dish. (I used an 8 X 10 dish. Anything around this size would work.)
3. Heat butter over medium heat in a dutch oven or other large pot.  Saute the leeks and carrots for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  
4. Add the chopped garlic and cook for one minute, or until garlic is fragrant.  
5. Add the mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, or until most of the liquid has evaporated from them.  
6. Stir in the flour and cook for one minute. 
7. Whisk in the milk and broth.  Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook until thickened, about 2 minutes.  Add the seasoning and parsley.  Season to taste with salt and pepper
8. Stir the vegetable mixture in the baking dish with the chicken.
9. Roll out the puff pastry and drape it over the baking dish, so it hangs over the edges by 1/4 inch.
10. Lightly spray the puff pastry with cooking spray.  Cut several slits so steam can escape.
11. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed and golden brown.  Let sit for five minutes, and serve.