Recipe #11: Pesto Pasta (Part I)

So, I actually made this dish a while ago...probably sometime in April or May. I had been craving pesto for a while, and had just read an article about how it originated in Cinque Terre! Perf! I looked online and found a recipe for pesto by Lisa's favorite, Ina Garten (aka Barefoot Contessa). And honestly, it was the best pesto ever!

I had only made pesto once before, and while it was yummy, I found it to be a bit bitter. So, here's the recipe we used. The recipe is actually for a pesto pasta salad (more on this later), so the pesto recipe below is going to include a few other ingredients that were added (and made it really really yummy!).


Pesto ingredients:
-1/4 cup walnuts
-1/4 cup pine nuts
-9 garlic cloves, chopped
-5 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
-1 tsp kosher salt
-1 tsp black pepper
-1 1/2 cups good olive oil (she always says good olive oil in her show)
-1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
-1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
-1 1/4 cup good mayonnaise

In food processor, blend walnuts, pine nuts and garlic for 15 seconds. Add basil leaves, salt,
and pepper. With the processor running, slowly pour the olive oil into the mixture. Add the Parmesan and puree for a minute.

Here it is before adding the "extra" ingredients

(using 1 1/2 cups of pesto) Puree the pesto, spinach, and lemon juice. Add the mayo and puree. And that's it!

YUM! Nice and creamy and not at all bitter!

I actually found this recipe because I was looking for a pasta dish with pesto and peas, and came across this, and it had awesome reviews. So, using her recipe as a guideline, we made a hot pasta (hers was for room temperature/cold), and it turned out super yummy!



I don't remember exactly what we did with this recipe, but I do know two things for sure: I definitely used extra Parmesan, and I did not use as much mayonnaise as the recipe calls for. Oh, and I used extra garlic, because I always do. Anyway, it turned out really well, and I can't wait to make the pesto again!

Recipe #10: Fusilli with Sun-Dried Tomatoes, Artichokes and Sausage

And goat cheese toast! I didn't think all of that would fit in the title.

This meal is probably one of my favorites! Both recipes can be found on foodnetwork.com (compliments of Giada de Laurentiis). We've probably made this 7 or 8 times.

First the goat cheese toasts. These are super easy to make. In fact, you don't really need to "make" much! Start out with one of those skinny french baguettes. Cut them up into pieces, maybe about 1/2 inch wide or so. Drizzle a little bit of olive oil on each piece, and put them in the oven for about 15 mins at 375 degrees.


Meanwhile, make the goat cheese mixture to go on top! You need 8 oz of goat cheese and 4 oz of cream cheese (or whatever you have, but approximately 2:1, goat cheese to cream cheese). We buy the goat cheese with herbs in it already, but feel free to buy anything. Mix together the cream cheese and goat cheese, and really, add any herbs that you like. I forget what the recipe calls for, but we always add thyme, chives, lemon zest, garlic, salt and pepper. Yum!


Once the bread is done in the oven, simply spread the goat cheese mixture on top of each one.

So easy! And you're done.

Now the main course: Fusilli pasta with artichokes, sun-dried tomatoes, and sausage. For those of you who, for some reason, hate fusilli pasta (Alex....), you can substitute whatever pasta you like! I actually first found this recipe online, but she has the exact same one in one of her cookbooks, except she uses penne instead. But lucky me: fusilli is my absolute favorite!

Ok, so the ingredients:
3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, packed in the oil (you need the oil for the sausage)
2 (8oz) packs of frozen artichoke hearts
1 lb hot italian sausage
1 3/4 cup chicken broth
1/2 cup dry white wine
2+ cloves of garlic
1/3 cup fresh basil
1 lb fusilli pasta
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper

Take 2 tablespoons of the "sun-dried tomato oil" and heat it up in a large pan. Place the sausage into the pan, and cook until it's completely done (about 8 minutes). Transfer the sausage to a plate, but leave the oil in the pan.

So, I didn't take the best pictures, which can be seen by the one above. Haha, you probably didn't really want to see that plate of meat, but too bad =)

In the same pan (with the oil), put in the 2 cloves of chopped-up garlic (or more) and the frozen artichoke hearts. Mix them around in the oil, and leave them in there for a few minutes. Next, pour in the chicken broth, wine, and sun-dried tomatoes. Stir occasionally and let simmer for about 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, grate the parmesan cheese and cut the mozzarella cheese into little cubes. Oh also, start cooking the pasta! I accidentally started it too late last night, so the above mixture was simmering for twice as long as it should have. I'm not sure it did anything, except maybe make it so that there was less sauce available for all that pasta!

Once the pasta is done, drain the water, but do not rinse. Put the pasta, sausage, parmesan cheese and basil into the same pan as the rest of the stuff. Let it all heat up, and then throw in the mozzarella cheese.


Keep it on the heat until everything is melted and heated through. Enjoy!

Picture from the first time I made this dish. It looks like I forgot about the basil, oops!

An Idea for All Those Leftovers!

This one is from Giada de Laurentiis. It's something I saw on her show a while ago, and I've been meaning to try it ever since. The day after Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect time, since it's Turkey and Cranberry raviolis!! I'm not really a huge fan of the Thanksgiving turkey, but figured I'd give this one a shot. If you're interested, you can find the recipe here.

Depending on how much you like cranberry sauce, I suggest putting more. I put in a little extra, but wish there had been a bit more. We used wonton wrappers, so they weren't as heavy as normal raviolis. A word of caution: be carful not to poke holes in them while boiling!! A couple of them split open, causing the water to become infested with turkey....kinda gross.

I didn't actually make the gravy in Giada's recipe, because my dad is pretty much the Gravy King. I went the easy route and used his leftovers from the day before (another way to save some time!!).

Overall, I did enjoy these. Definitely a unique way to enjoy all of those leftovers, instead of making sandwiches for the next few weeks. The only downside is that they take a while to make. It's a lot of hard work putting the turkey/cranberry mixture into each of the wonton wrappers!! However, it is something that can be done ahead of time. You can just put them in the fridge, and boil them whenever!! The last part is very fast...only takes about 3-5 minutes.

Sorry that I didn't take any pictures!! But honestly, they aren't the prettiest things ever....I was a little lazy when I was making them, because it was taking so long. OH! And she recommends using dark meat. My family only eats dark meat, so we had about 3/4 of a pound left, but had probably 5 or so pounds of white meat. I ended up mixing the two, which helped get rid of some of the unwanted white meat! Depending on your preferences, I'm sure either would taste great! Enjoy =)