I think I’ve developed a minor obsession with basil. In the past month I’ve made blueberry basil lemonade and basil Thai chicken – and now pesto. I know that you can buy pesto from the store, but this isn’t a blog about things you can buy – it’s a blog about cooking. And pesto is so easy to make! Most importantly, as with anything you cook, you can make it appeal to your personal tastes.

One of the reason I like pesto is because pasta is my favorite food to eat and pesto is a nice alternative from regular tomato sauce.  It’s also green so you know you’re sneaking in a bit of vegetables into a bowl full of high-carb spaghetti. I also love pesto because it’s got such a strong sharp flavor.

Yes, I admit pesto leads to bad bread central with all that uncooked garlic but I don’t care. Eat pesto with someone you love who won’t judge you for garlic breath. And on that note, eat pesto with someone who will tell you if you have green bits in your teeth. Nothing worse than walking around with food in your teeth. I think a person who eats pesto with you is probably a true friend since they’ll deal with the stink and make sure your teeth are clear.

But, recently I’m liking pesto on sandwiches. When I worked in DC I would sometimes go to Springmill Bread Company in Eastern Market and I would get a tomato, mozzarella and pesto sandwich toasted on whole wheat bread. It was simultaneously simple and decadent.  Lots of melty cheese, bright tomatoes, and bold pesto – it’s like a caprese salad in a sandwich. What’s better than that? So it’s summer time practically, basil is in season – go crazy and make some pesto. Slather it on pasta, spread it on sandwiches, and find new ways to use it then email me so I can try them. We know I’m obsessed with basil and I’m always looking for new ways to try it out.

Now, even though pesto is so easy to make, I don’t always like to make it because pine nuts can be quite expensive! However, if you don’t want to use pine nuts in your pesto I’ve had success using almonds instead. Sure, it tastes a little bit different and might be less “authentic”- but if you like almonds it’s a pleasant change and you’re still getting the same garlic, cheese, and basil flavors. Main lesson here, you can make pesto without breaking the bank!

Adapted from BBC Good Food

Messy level: One spoon. All you need is a blender. You don’t even really need to cut anything (although you do need to peel the garlic). And if you don’t want to you don’t even have to measure. You can just pour the ingredients into the blender, blend, taste and adjust. Job done and so easy and dish free.

Pesto

 

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Ingredients

• ⅓ cup pine nuts
• 2 - 2½ cups basil leaves
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
• 1-2 cloves garlic, peeled
• ¾ cup of olive oil
• pinch of salt

Instructions

1. This step is optional, but adds a nice flavor: In a dry skillet over medium heat add the pine nuts to toast. Stir regularly to keep from burning. Toast the pine nuts until brown in a few places, this takes about 3 minutes.
2. Remove from the heat and add the pine nuts to a blender.
3. Add the basil, Parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, and olive oil to the blender.
4. Blend on high until smooth.
5. Eat it with whatever you prefer. Store it in a tightly sealed container in the fridge. If it gets too thick just stir in a little more olive oil.

3.3.3070

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I like leftovers. I love having yesterday’s dinner for lunch because something warm and satisfying is often better than a pb&j that got squashed in my purse. While Ryan was in South Africa, I decided I didn’t want to cook every night of the week so I wanted to make something that would yield a lot of leftovers. Meatloaf seemed like a hearty and delicious option. And this recipe fit the bill. I had it for a few days of lunch, and there was even some left over for Ryan to eat when he returned to London tired and hungry.

In my search for a tasty meatloaf recipe, I came across one from Yotam Ottolenghi. To be honest, I’m intrigued and intimidated by Ottolenghi recipes. Yotam Ottolenghi is an Israeli chef based in London. He has multiple restaurants and many cookbooks. His food tends to be influenced by Israeli and Mediterranean flavors. And he’s well known for creating delicious vegetable based recipes. Obviously I’ve ignored the vegetable part and gone straight for the meaty recipes. 

For my birthday last year, Ryan and I went to his restaurant on Upper Street and it was very good. I also felt, it was slightly hyped up. I was expecting to have my mind blown by the food, but everything was served small plate style, and it was kind of expensive and overall I felt that the cost didn’t match up to my expectation. But, I will say the dessert was amazing. The window display overflowed with dessert options, each looking so tempting it was hard to choose. My overall takeaway of the experience was that everything we ate was a combination of interesting and unusual textures and flavors.

And the same is true for the recipes in his cookbooks. When I was first learning to cook, I wanted to get ideas about how to do more with vegetables. I borrowed his book Plenty from the library and I was intimidated. Some of the ingredient lists were a long and had items that I wasn’t familiar with and wasn’t sure I wanted to buy. I wasn’t ready for risk taking and complex cookery.

So when I came across this meatloaf recipe, I was nervous. I read through the recipe and thought, yeah I can do this. Sure, it has some ingredients I wouldn’t usually put in meatloaf, like cinnamon or pine nuts. But, I was willing to try something new. And in fact, I think this is a perfect starter Ottolenghi recipe. Even though the ingredient list is a bit long, it includes items that are all familiar and seasonings you probably already have in your house. I think this recipe will push you out of your comfort zone, but only just the right amount. I thought the texture and combination of this meatloaf was fantastic and really different from the usual slab you’d get at a diner. This recipe also made me receptive to trying other Ottolenghi recipes. This one went well, so I feel confident enough to go back to Plenty and try to tackle some more complex recipes and learn to do awesome things with vegetables.

The original recipe (found here) includes recipe for a yogurt-tomato salsa. I didn’t make that, but you might want to consider it. The first day I made this the meatloaf was so moist that I didn’t need any gravy, ketchup, salsa, or sauce. It was delicious just plain. But as with all meatloaf, after a few days in the fridge it started to get a little dry and would have benefited from the salsa. Since I didn’t make it, I just used barbecue sauce and that was delicious as well.

Finally, this recipe asks you to grate some tomatoes and an onion. I highly, highly, highly recommend using a food processor. I grated the onion using a box grater and started profusely crying. Seriously, I had to stop occasionally because I couldn’t see. Use a food processor and save yourself!

Messy level: The assembly for this recipe is fairly straightforward. You mix all the ingredients in a bowl and then press it into a large pan. It’s the prep where you get messy. You’ll need to do a fair bit of chopping and then the grating requires a food processor which is more equipment to clean. The actual food won’t get everywhere as you cook, but you will have a pile of dishes at the end.

Beef, Lamb and Bulgur Meatloaf

 

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Prep time

30 mins

Cook time

30 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Author: Yotam Ottolenghi

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

• 150g/ ⅔ cup bulgur wheat
• 400g/ 14 oz ground lamb (if you go for a full pound of meat that's ok)
• 400g/ 14 oz ground beef (if you go for a full pound of meat that's ok)
• 1½ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 medium onion, peeled and roughly grated
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 20g/ ¾ cup flat-leaf parsley leaves, chopped
• 20g/ ¾ cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• 60g pine nuts, roughly chopped
• 2 medium tomatoes, cut in half and roughly grated (discard the skins)
• olive oil

Instructions

1. Put the bulgur in a medium bowl. Cover with 2 cups of warm water and let soak for 15 minutes.
2. Heat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
3. Line a 8x12" pan with parchment paper.
4. Drain the bulgur and press it to squeeze out excess moisture.
5. In a large bowl, add the bulgur, lamb, beef, allspice, cinnamon, salt, grated onion, garlic, parsley, cilantro, pine nuts, and grated tomato. Mix well until everything looks evenly distributed.
6. Transfer the mixture to your prepared pan. Use your hands to press the mixture down so it is tightly packed and even across the pan.
7. Brush the top of the meatloaf with a little bit of olive oil (less than 1 tablespoon should do it).
8. Bake for 30 minutes, or until brown on the top and cooked through.
9. Let cool slightly, then serve.

3.2.2925

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Yes, you read that right, I’m a big fan of Brussels sprouts. Growing up, I had always seen on kids on TV scrunch up their faces, stick out their tongues, and groan “eww Brussels sprouts.” So, I thought they were going to be gross and inedible. But then, a few years ago my friend Emily got them in her farm share and had me over and served them to me for dinner. I was nervous. I was 25 years old, I’d never tried a Brussels sprout, and I didn’t want to embarrass myself by refusing to eat my veggies. I cautiously speared one with my fork and tried it. And I liked it! Everything I had thought before was wrong! It was like when the character in Green Eggs and Ham finally tries the green eggs and ham, and realizes that after repeatedly saying  “I do not like them Sam-I-Am,” his world is blown and he does in fact like the new and strange looking food.

So now I’m crazy about Brussels sprouts. When they’re well-cooked I just want to scarf each sprout down like it’s a handful of popcorn. And this recipe is that good. I ate them fresh from the oven and later warmed in the microwave. I also ate them cold, while riding a school bus with fifth-graders after a field trip. This recipe is good in all conditions. Before I found this recipe, I found a lot of other recipes I didn’t want to make.  Apparently a ton of Brussels sprouts recipes include bacon. Don’t get me wrong, bacon is great. But I didn’t want to have to make bacon just to make the dish. And I wanted to make something that would let the vegetable flavors shine. I also wanted to roast the Brussels sprouts because I love when the inside is soft and chewy while the outside leaves are crispy, blackened, and a bit sweet.

Today’s recipe is adapted from a Whole Foods recipe. I was nervous about the proportions of rosemary, pine nuts, and cheese because I thought they would overpower the Brussels sprouts. I was wrong. The rosemary adds a great scent that evokes memories of the holidays and helped get me excited about the colder fall weather. The pine nuts add a nice toasty crunch. And finally the cheese… ahh the cheese. I love cheese, but I often feel that people use cheese to mask vegetables and I didn’t want to do that. So at first I added only two tablespoons of cheese. But Ryan, who never over cheeses anything, said he thought more cheese would be good because it really accentuated the flavors of the rest of the dish. So I think you should taste test between 2 tbsp and 1/4 cup to see what you like best. And if you’ve never had Brussels sprouts before, I hope you’ll try this  and let it change the way you think about this vegetable.

Ingredients:

1 pound Brussels sprouts

2 tbsp olive oil

1/4 tsp pepper (or more to taste)

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary (use 1 tsp in using dried rosemary)

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°.

2. Cut off any brown bottoms and pull of yellow leaves from Brussels sprouts.

3. Put the Brussels sprouts in a medium bowl. Add oil, pepper, salt, and rosemary. Stir until the sprouts are well coated.

4. Spread the Brussels sprouts on a rimmed baking sheet. Cook for 25 minutes.

5. Sprinkle the pine nuts over the roasted Brussels sprouts. Cook for 5 minutes more. By the end of cooking, nuts should have a darker brown color and the Brussels sprouts should be dark brown-black in color.

6. Remove Brussels sprouts from the oven. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and serve.

Messy Level: 

This gets one spoon. The whole thing goes from bowl, to baking sheet, and then you can serve it back in the bowl you used for mixing. There is very little work and mess in this recipe!

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