PESTO STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Unbelieveable as it might sound to some of you, I was unable to find zucchini large enough for this recipe! I put out the word on Facebook and sent out a few emails - nothing! No one I know is being overtaken by zucchini, which is good news for them but bad news for me. I decided to check out the farmer's market in St. Matthews last Saturday, knowing that there were many more vendors than at the markets closer to our house. I did find larger zucchini, and reluctantly bought them once I accepted that this was the best I could do. My zucchini weighed in at just under one and a half pounds, while the recipe suggests a two pounder - this truly is a recipe for the home gardner!

Everyone liked the recipe - our grandson, age 19, liked the filling much more than the zucchini itself, but I have to agree with him. Yes, we're trying to eat healthier and have grilled lots of eggplant, squash and zucchini, but really, I just don't think it has much of a taste. Knowing it's good for me I was able to enjoy the filling - especially since the pesto was homemeade and the mozzarella was fresh - which was tasty enough to make even zucchini palatable.

Just in case you're being over-run with zucchini, here's a link to the recipe:

PESTO STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Oh, I forgot to mention that I had some homemade seasoned breadcrumbs in the freezer - with garlic, parsley and parmesan cheese - so I used about one cup of that instead of the croutons.  For me it turned out to be a good thing because had I used croutons the filling would have been too bulky to fit into my smaller zucchini boats.  The bread crumbs, which I toasted in the oven first, allowed me to compress the filling into the zucchini, getting every last bit of pesto-y goodness!

MAKING PESTO

Unfortunately I don't have room for a vegetable garden. I do grow a few herbs in pots in the back yard so they're handy for cooking. Several years ago our neighbor Adamo told us we could use his small garden for our 'orto', as Italians call a vegetable garden. I tried growing the usual: peppers, tomatoes, eggplants and more, but unfortunately Adamo's garden sits on a rocky outcrop, and the water drains through the dirt as though it were sand. This, combined with the fact that I have to carry water to the garden made me rethink the garden when summer rolled around again.

I decided that with the farmer's market and roadside stands, not to mention gifts from our neighbors, fruit and vegetables would be plentiful and cheap, so it just wasn't worth the (disappointing) effort. The one thing I knew I would continue to grow was basil, and plenty of it. Art and I both love pesto - on pasta, on bruschetta, on salmon, and in a variety of dishes. Even in Italy I've never found a ready-made pesto that lives up to my expectations, so I make my own. I also make extra to freeze so that we'll have pesto all through the winter. It's like a bit of sunshine, so fresh!

The word pesto comes from the Italian word 'pestare', to pound, so to be authentic pesto should be make the old fashioned way with a mortar and pestle, but I have to admit that I just not that old fashioned. I use a food processor, and some purists will argue that the food processor causes heat which damages the basil, but even if that's true, I still think it tastes pretty darn good.

I have about twelve basil plants so that I can make my pesto in large batches. This recipe started out as a single batch recipe but I've changed it. If you'd like to make a smaller batch just reduce the ingredients proportionately.


To ensure that your basil keeps producing all summer long, first you have to pinch the stem just above the spot where two new leaves will sprout. If you do this you basil will get bushier and bushier over time. The second thing you have to do is to keep the basil pinched back enough so that it doesn't flower. Having several plants will ensure that you'll have enough basil whenever you want to make a batch of pesto, or to use in caprese or whatever other recipe you might want.






At the end of the season I pull the plants out of the ground, roots and all. I take a large bucket to the garden with me and just put all the plants into the bucket to carry to the back yard. Once I'm in the back yard I sit down and strip off all the good leaves. Not all the leaves will be good at this point; some might have yellowed, but it's not hard to figure out. I then make my final batch of pesto, but I also reserve enought basil leaves to freeze to use as seasoning. To do this I place the whole leaves on an aluminum pan and stick it in the freezer for a quick freeze. Once the leaves are frozen I QUICKLY crumble them and toss into a ziplock bag to add to sauces and recipes over the winter - much better than using dried basil! I usually have to freeze the basil in several batches because my freezer is small, but just remember to keep the previously frozen batch in the freezer, and to work very, very quickly, otherwise the leaves will thaw and you won't be able to crumble them up.

PESTO GENOVESE

4 cups basil leaves, well packed
4 cloves garlic
1 cup pine nuts
1½ cups grated parmesan (or 2/3 parmesan and 1/3 pecorino)
1½ cups extra virgin olive oil (approximately)
salt & pepper to taste

Place basil leaves and garlic in food processor and process until leaves are finely chopped.

Add nuts and process until nuts are finely chopped.

Add cheese and process until combined.

With the processor running slowly add the oil until it’s the consistency you want.

After the oil is incorporated add salt and pepper to taste.

Yields 3 ½ -4 cups pesto. Store in airtight containers. Keeps in refrigerator for a week or more if you cover the remainder with a thin layer of oil. Can also be frozen.

I usually add a little less oil when I freeze the pesto, making it thicker so that I can add more or less oil later, depending on the recipe.

A SIMPLE LUNCH

Last week I made some pasta. Yes, from scratch. Do you realize how ridiculously easy it is to make pasta? And now much better it tastes? 100 grams of flour, one egg, and a pinch of salt for each serving. Mix well, knead 'til smooth, then run it through the pasta machine.

Starting with a small ball of dough, maybe golf ball size, run it through the pasta machine 5,6,7 times at the widest setting, then once at each progressive setting until the dough is thin as a sheet of paper. Cut into the desired shape, using cornstarch, not flour!, to keep it from sticking at this point. Pop into a pot of boiling water and within a few minutes you'll have pasta so wonderful you'll want to eat every last bite!

I made the pasta last week so that I could make a batch of lasagna, and I wasn't sure how much I'd need. Better safe than sorry is always my motto, so of course I ended up with more pasta than I needed. No problem! I cut the pasta into ribbons of tagliatelle, put them into a zip lock bag and popped it into the freezer.

Today when I wondered what to fix to go with the last bit of the tomato basil soup, I decided to use the pasta and experiment just a little.  I ALWAYS have pesto in the refrigerator! I make gobs of it in the summer, then freeze it in convenient 8 ounce rounds. We LOVE pesto!!! We love it on bruschetta, on tomatoes, on salmon or chicken, or simply on pasta.

When I make pesto pasta I always keep a ladleful of the pasta water and add it to the pasta along with the pesto. The pasta water helps the pesto to stick to the pasta, and makes a wonderfully creamy coating. Today I decided to take that creaminess to another level by adding just a touch of real cream!

I had maybe 300-400 grams of pasta, which I threw into the boiling water and swirled around a bit to make sure none of the strands stuck together. Knowing that it would only take a few minutes to cook, I'd already heated up a pan with a little olive oil. I added about 3/4-1 cup of pesto, and warmed it up, then added a few tablespoons of cream.

As soon as the pasta was ready I dumped it into the skillet along with maybe 1/4 cup of the pasta water. I lifted and mixed the pasta, then threw in a handful of pine nuts. I dished this out into bowls and we garnished it at the table with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.

This, along with the tomato-basil soup made such a simple and delicious lunch! Wonder what I'll make for dinner?