Well it was Pesto Mania over the past few weeks and it continues.  I tried to salvage the basil plants from Sobeys. (see pathetic pics below, that is one of the pots) 🙂   ( I bought over 15 or so plants to make all this yummy pesto and feature some of the food on  Rogers Daytime and now hoping the plants will continue to thrive.  We shall see, worth giving it a go I think! .

(Click here  for first Pesto Passion tv segment).
I also think I gained a few pounds because I’ve eaten more pasta than ever in my life! I love Italian but soon time for a food switch.

Right now I would like to share the Walnut Roasted Mushroom Pesto with you!  Oh my, it looks rather brown and not so appetizing like the nice rich classic green pesto, but it does have a very creamy texture and lovely when used in a pasta dish with other ingredients.

Oh and I can’t forget the Kapow Garlic Pesto (basically a blunder with too much garlic, but WOW so great for garlic bread, livening up a few dishes and adding some zest to all that is food!)  It breathes Garlic power, so I named it Kapow!  Smacks you in the mouth! That follows after the Walnut Mushroom Pesto.

BASIL, WALNUT & ROASTED MUSHROOM PESTO

• 1 1/2 cups basil leaves (washed and dried)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup walnuts (roasted).  I do them in the toaster oven
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tspn of salt
• 1 cup roasted mushrooms (utilizing mushrooms roasted in the oven with olive oil).

Let’s start with infusing the above in a nice pasta dish.  I made this for my mom just over one week or so and she went gaga over it.  She is my inspiration for cooking.  French background, good Northern Canadian cooking with some European influence somewhere many years before.   Her actual words were: ‘this is to die for’, her favorite saying, so cute.  And then she kept questioning me:  ‘can I have the recipe, how do you make this?’. Well I have notes on it maman but I would rather make it for you when you have a craving and you can sit back and enjoy!

Here is the basic process for the recipe.

Basil, Walnut & Mushroom Pesto with Tomato & Caper Spaghettini

• 1 cup veggie or chicken broth (approx)
• Cremini mushrooms (roasted in pan)
• ¼ cup diced onions (optional)
• 3 tablespoon butter
• 1 tsp good olive oil
• Fresh parmesan to top pasta or regular grated
• chopped parsley to top (optional)
• 3 tbsp or 4 of capers (no need to chop) (can also use olives)
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes (chopped in half or 6 – 8 campari tomatoes quartered)
• 1 – 2 tsp salt (sea salt nice)
• 1 tsp pepper (I like black not white)

In heavy saucepan, heat butter, olive oil, slightly sautee onions to soften up, add your tomatoes and saute a few minutes.   Add broth and let simmer so it blends nicely into a sauce.  Add capers.

(Meanwhile boil your pasta, al dente, not mush). When your pasta is ready, add the homemade pesto to your pan in the simmering sauce. Use ½ or full jar of pesto, depending on your preference of taste.  Taste it and see if salty enough for you.

Mix well.

Add your pasta that is drained.  If you need more water, add a bit of water to help blend the pasta.

Top with pine nuts, extra cheese and fresh parsley.  Enjoy!

Basil Walnut, Roasted Mushroom Pesto with Basil & Capers Spaghetinni

Salvaging basil bought from Sobeys. 15 or so plants. Look forward to growing my own. Hopefully these little guys will make it!

Another alternative for enjoying the Walnut Mushroom Pesto would be for an appetizer.  A yummy Pesto Mushroom topped crostini.

• Purchase a baguette , slice and top with a bit of olive oil and toast or bake lightly.
• Then slather some pesto and broil the top.  You could add some extra cheese like Parmesan.
• If that is too crunchy for you, you could just utilize your baguette slices as they are, top with the pesto and cheese optional, and bake until bubbling.Some people don’t like very crunchy bread.  You can experiment with topping of diced tomatoes and parm or perhaps some pepperoni diced up or capers.  For the fish lovers, I could see anchovies working well.

Lastly, here is the Kapow Pistou recipe.
Basically basil, cheese and oil. No nuts!

KAPOW GARLIC PISTOU

• 2 bunches basil
• ¾ cup parmesan cheese
• 1 cup oil
• 4 large (very large) garlic cloves (not roasted)
• 1/8 tspn salt

(very garlicky and powerful, great for addition to soups and any dish to zip it up)

I froze this in small spice jars. (see pic below). I’ve been using it for salad dressing, garlic bread topping, soups and pasta sauce.

NEXT ON THE AGENDA!!!! – PART III (instead of week 3 because I’m behind and the basil is not ready yet for big batches).

So….. Stay Tuned, more to come this summer, these will be so yummy too!

• Basil Croutons with Parmesan
• Roasted Garlic Basil Pesto
• Lemon Caper Pesto
• Roasted Chestnuts & Basil
• White Bean Pesto & Basil
• Sun Dried Tomato Basil

I first discovered Pesto while dining in Toronto.   Since I love pasta so much, the pasta dish with pesto sauce was a winner for me.

Since then, I long for summer so that I can enjoy the wonderful aroma of basil on my deck and to end off the summer season, it’s pesto time.

Pesto however, doesn’t need to be limited to the classic basil, cheese and pine nuts blend.  There are many interesting combinations of herbs, nuts and cheese to enjoy this lovely paste type condiment.  Below are a few recipes I shared on Rogers Daytime.

(Click here for video of our tv segment).

For the next 4 weeks (until the end of May), I will be sharing a variety of options to enjoy pesto in appetizers, main dishes and Pistou soup (more info to come on that topic, a French sister of Pesto).

We will start off with the Classic Pesto and then Tomato Basil Pesto utilizing fresh tomatoes instead of sun dried.  Sun dried is also very awsome, however, it is convenient and different to utilize some cherry tomatoes.   I will share my sun dried basil recipe in the next few weeks.

CLASSIC PESTO

• 1 cup basil (250 ml) clean and dry
  (You can double the basil for more intense flavour). Right now basil not in season so I had to use basil plants from Sobeys.  I cleaned out their rack. 🙂

• ½ cup grated parmesan
• 4 tbsp pine nuts
• 1 large garlic clove
• ¼ to ½ tsp each pepper / salt
• ½ cup olive oil

Mix your dried goods in food processor, slowly add oil and blend away!  Adjust oil if the pesto is too dry.  Same as salt, you can adjust to your taste buds.

CHERRY TOMATO AND BASIL PESTO

• ½ cup pine nuts (roasted first) or roasted white almond slivers
• 3 garlic cloves (peeled)
• 4 ounces green or fresh purple basil (about 2 – 3 cups packed )  You can get away with 1 ½ cups but more basil is much better!
• ½ cup parmesan cheese (or pecorino romano) grated
• 15 – 25 cherry tomatoes (whole)
• ½ tsp salt
• 1/3 cup or so of extra virgin olive oil (adjust if necessary, same with salt)

 This is somewhat a reduced calorie pesto and is bursting with flavor.  Great for adding to a pesto pasta, a salad dressing or pita pizzas.

HERE ARE SOME PESTO USES IN RECIPES:

Uses for Pesto.  Here I’m showcasing the same food from the Rogers Daytime Show.  A pita pizza, tortelinni bites on skewers, a bean salad with capers and tomatoes and lastly a Rotini pasta with tomato basil pesto.

Pesto makes a great base for recipes or as a stand alone sauce.  I don’t have a photo of the bean salad. Sorry.

Use your imagination, this stuff is great on everything!  The next day I made a few mock panini’s in my George Foreman grill and even that was pretty yummy!

Decadent creamy delicious Buffalo Mozza Cheese with tomato, classic pesto and pinch of salt on tomato.

Small pitas with Tomato Basil Pesto, topped with Genoa Salami.
Good also without any meat. Can add a little extra parm at the end.
Great for kids to make.

Tortellini cheese bites with homemade pesto for coating, Genoa Salami and cherry tomato skewers.
Kids would love this too. Use their favourite meat ?
hot dog? pesto, get creative and have fun.

Simple Cheese Bites Grana Padano, Classic Pesto on French bread.

Tomato Basil Pasta. Serve at room temperature. Option can top with extra cheese and pine nuts, basil.

BEAN SALAD:

• 1 can white Unico kidney beans (well rinsed)
• 1 – 2 tbsp capers
• 4 – 5 tablespoons basil pesto
• 1/4 cup finely diced red pepper
• 1 tbsp finely diced onion
• 7  Campari tomatoes, quartered.Serve room temperature.

DID YOU KNOW?  Italian Cheese Varieties:

• Grana Padano?  Parmesan? Pecorino Romano?
• Which is best to use for pesto? What are the differences?

Grano Padano is a subtler and less nutty and salty than Parmigiano. Parmigiano-reggiano is more sweet but also has the salt factor. Pecorino romano seems more animal/gamy flavour.

So what is the difference with Pistou or Pesto!
They are both delish but there are a few differences.

Wikki What is Pistou?
Pistou, or pistou sauce, is a Provençal cold sauce made from cloves of garlic, fresh basil, and olive oil. It is somewhat similar to pesto, although it lacks pine nuts. Some modern versions of the recipe include grated parmesan, pecorino or similar hard cheeses. A somewhat similar sauce is Argentine chimichurri made with parsley.

Pistou has origins from France.   Popular with making soup.  But I love the use and easy of making Pistou which can be enjoyed in dressings for salads, casseroles, pasta, sauces, pizza and of course the pistou soup.

Wikki What is Pesto?
Pesto (Italian pronunciation: [ˈpesto], Genoese: [ˈpestu]) is a sauce originating in Genoa in the Liguria region of northern Italy (pesto genovese),^[1] and traditionally consists of crushed garlic, basil, and European pine nuts blended with olive oil, Parmigiano Reggiano (Parmesan cheese), and Fiore Sardo (cheese made from sheep’s milk).^[2]