Calling all DU food lovers!!! Pesto assist on aisle four!!!!

[davsand]

GACK!!!

I promised last night to bring food to a fundraiser next weekend and I need help! I want to take pizzas (they are easy to serve and easy to transport) but I refuse to do the run of the mill things with red sauce. This is a fundraiser for my husband and a few other candidates and I want to to look like I used some imagination and effort.

I was planing to do a couple of crab and shrimp pizzas with a lemon, dill, caper sauce (very easy to do--your basic white sauce with some lemon zest and some capers in it with fresh dill snipped into it at the last minute.)

Along with the seafood pies, I want to take chicken, artichoke, and black olive pies with a pesto sauce. THERE comes the rub--I do not make pesto and do not have a good recipe for it. Sure as the sun comes up, if I buy sauce somebody will ask me how to make it and I'll have to admit I bought it...

HELP!!! I need your best pesto recipes, PLEASE!!! I do use food processor and blender so that isn't an issue--What can you do for me?


Laura

[Kathy in Cambridge]

1. Pesto is very easy to make. Do you have a blender or food processor?

Basic recipe:

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves
1-2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 large garlic clove, crushed
1-2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Place basil, pine nuts and garlic into blender or food processor. Blend until finely minced. Add cheese and olive oil and process until blended. Transfer to small container; cover and chill. Use within 3-4 days. Recipe may be doubled.

-------------

Quality of ingredients make better pesto. A combo of fresh parm and romano make a tangier pesto. I also add more garlic (like 6 cloves in the basic recipe).

On edit: you can also add a teaspoon of lemon juice for a little zip, and it keeps it from turning brown. You can also freeze pesto very easily.

[tishaLA]

3. ^That's the recipe...

I just made a slew of it the other day, but I used organic basil, which really improves the flavor. Also be sure to dry saute your pine nuts for a couple minutes before you make the pesto because they will probably be uncooked and they taste more mellow and exciting after a couple minutes over a flame.

Like RR, I use slightly more garlic than the recipe above--usually about 3 cloves--and I like to use 1/2 Romano/1/2 Parmesan.

[Mz Pip]

2. Here's what I do

This is pretty extemporaneous so I don't really have exact measurements.

1 bunch fresh basil leaves packed. Remove the stems.
1/2 c. pine nuts
1/4 - 1/2 c. grated parmesan cheese
1/2 c. olive oil
4 cloves fresh garlic (or more if you like it garlicy)
salt to taste

Process until smooth.

If you like it chunky, process the garlic and olive oil first, then add the other ingredients and blend until you get it to the consistancy you like.

MzPip
:dem:

[davsand]

4. Sounds easy enough to do...

Now, if I use a mix of spinach and basil will it be a bit more mellow in taste? Is spinach pesto that same thing with spinach instead of basil??

And yeah, belnder or food processor either one are regular equipment in my kitchen so that is no big deal...

Thanks a lot you guys!!!

FWIW, not all our fundraiser food is terribly classy stuff. I just set up a fundraiser for my husband that will be a lemonade shake up and corn dawg affair with funnel cakes for a finish! (We are doing it in a parking lot outside a union hall.) I found a magician and a band too. All I need to find now is the clowns...


Laura

[Kathy in Cambridge]

5. Spinach can make pesto more bitter

I would use basil-it's sweeter.

[NYC]

6. Use parsley flakes instead of spinach.

I grow my own basil, so have a limited "crop". The Good Housekeeping Cookbook recommends more parsely flakes than basil.

Also, I didn't notice anyone above mention a touch of nutmeg.

[undergroundpanther]

7. The parsley

Don't put much parsley in ,it makes it bitter!

I put a 1/4 c olive oil,(i add the oil in drizzle into the processor so it ain't too greasy)
A lot of basil like 2 cups,look for organic and lemon basil added to normal basil gives the pesto a delightful taste.
3 or 4 cloves garlic (if you want sweeter roast half the garlic before you process it)
half cup Parmesan,1/3 cup Romano
roasted pine nuts and pistachios.
a dash of lemon.
a few leafs of cilantro/and a few leafs of parsley
and process.
I taste the pesto as I process to make sure it's balanced just right too.(any excuse to eat some)

I make a pesto pizza I call it lawn clipping pizza,because the pesto looks like the grassy stuff you find under the lawn mower blade area when it's cooked on an exposed edge.

First,
I put a thin layer of ricotta cheese,mixed with egg down on the dough with a wooden spoon,than I add a layer of Parmesan cheese,than I smear on a thick healthy layer of the pesto,than for the top cheese I use Monterey Jack ,mozzarella,asiago and Parmesan /Romano mixed.

Than I put on some thin green bell pepper rings,small tomato chunks, and pre cooked chicken breast strips I cooked in a pan with garlic ,black pepper,Italian seasoning and onion powder. sometimes I add on mushrooms and black olives too.

I also make pesto crepes. Tossing pesto with some tomato chunks over fresh pasta is delicious,toss on a few extra roasted pine nuts and yummm.
I named my pet rat Pesto. If I ever bottle the stuff it'll have her picture on it.The cats loved her.She passed about 4 years ago.Was 5 years old. She was awesome and yes she liked Pesto.

This pesto I make is incredibly good in fact,it's addictive,But makes for some deadly farts 4 hours or so later. They linger.
They are heavier than than air, really stinky and scary. Fans barely move these farts away and you tend to run into them as they linger so long,you find yourself crossing those invisible barriers again and again.These pesto farts are so bad the cats leave the room ...Be warned.

[Celeborn Skywalker]

8. Yum

Sounds good. I think I'll be saving that recipe, thanks! :)

[davsand]

9. Sounds like my gumbo.

A buddy of mine loves my gumbo, but his wife REFUSES to let him sleep in the same room after he's had it because it gives him such horrid gas. It has never affected my husband or me that way--but it just about kills anyone around poor S. He claims it is worth it, however...

I'm gonna have to try that layer of Ricotta idea--it sounds divine! I've never had anything with ricotta in it that I disliked.


Laura

[Rowdyboy]

10. Pine nuts are HARD to come by around here on I've substituted both

toasted walnuts and toasted pecans. I think basil-pecan pesto is flawless, but thats just my opinion. Good luck!

[On the Road]

11. I Would Suggest All Fresh Basil if Possible

It's sometimes expensive -- the best source may be an Asian supermarket, if there are any in your area with fresh produce. Pine nuts may also be also be a better deal at an Asian store. Toasting them is a good idea.

Personally, I would use a LOT more garlic than recipes call for -- if you like garlic, you can hardly use too much, but that's up to you. And traces of any spices or spice mixtures you think would blend well -- nutmeg is a good option, but it's not the only one.

To sweeten, I would include a little sugar -- not enough to make it taste sweet, just mellower.

Some type of stock, animal fat or drippings also adds a lot of body and fullness. You could add a piece of sausage pork fat or other meat while cooking, even if you remove it later. Or some powdered beef or chicken stock. Not too much, but it makes a big difference.

Amount of all these things are to your personal taste.

[vajraroshana]

12. Pesto gives me gas

I love basil, but...

I don't think I'm alone...

Pesto is a very gassy sauce for some reason. Way worse than beans.

I've even tried blanching the basil first, but still it's gassy.

Great tasting, but gassy and sort of painful gassiness at that.