Remember that friend I mentioned who set this blog up? Check out J and K on Holiday, for a glimpse of his current adventures traipsing about Europe! At the moment, they’re in France..
A bientot!
y.
Monthly Archives: April 2015
Sweet Potato Pesto Pasta
Thanks to Abby for loaning me a spiralizer so I could try it out!
Thanks to Fitnessista for this recipe combo, the proportions I made up from my trial.
Ingredients:
For the pesto:
1/2 cup raw shelled sunflower seeds
1 tsp garlic
1 cup spinach
1 cup (packed) fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoon goat cheese
Kosher salt
For the rest:
1 large yam, peeled
your protein add of choice (shown below are seared scallops, made the Alton Brown way).
Steps:
Purée sunflower seeds, garlic, spinach, basil, oil, goat cheese and lemon zest and juice until smooth. Season with salt. Thin pesto with water if too thick.
Cut off ends of sweet potato and install flush against spiralizer, spiralize to your heart’s content.
Boil sweet potato spirals in water no more than 3 minutes.
Combine with pesto.
Serve with blindfold on.
Today’s Recipe Rating:
Novelty Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
Extremely novel.
Likelihood of Repeat: 50%
I couldn’t get my ‘roommate’ to eat much of it, but I’d like to try it again -next time with the julienne blade of my food processor.
Lesson Learned: If you boil it too much the ‘pasta’ crumbles fast (similar risk with reheating). Yes, you could buy a single-purpose tool like a spiralizer if you think you’ll eat a lot of spiralized things every week, but a food processor might work just fine for a rare occasion. Also, I always forget how easy it is to make pesto, I need to do this more, especially since you can make cheaper versions without pine nuts! Yum! I have read that real sweet potatoes are more dense and jam up the machine, better stick with the soft orange ones –yams? Whatever they are called..
Herbed Butter
Some of you may be wondering why there hasn’t been a post in a while. Maybe one of you is wondering what happened with the spiralizer you loaned me, or what I ate on vacation in South America. Ooops, sorry, I’ve been busy seizing life by the throat and shaking it around. I do plan on recapping both those topics soon, but in honor of low maintenance recipes, herbed butter:
From Food52’s “Five Ways to Flavor Your Butter with Fresh Herbs,” I thought I wouldn’t use it a lot since I don’t eat toast much, but this little jar of deliciousness turned out to be a nice bonus to put on roast chicken, a green onion pancake egg sandwich, in a microwaved sweet potato at work, and anything else with a spreadable surface!
I used a tiny jam jar from a great wedding i went to, which was the perfect low commitment trial amount. I highly recommend trying out different flavor combos like in the article until it hits your taste buds just right.
Herbed Butter
Ingredients
2 Tbs unsalted butter
10 sprigs fresh thyme
1Tbs honey
Salt (to taste)
Steps
- Set butter out to warm to room temperature.
- Rinse and pat dry the thyme, removing stems.
- Once butter is warm enough to stir awkwardly, mix in thyme, honey and a dash of salt to taste.
- Serve immediately, or store in fridge at eye level for maximum usage.
Gift storage note from Food 52: “To gift or store the butter, dollop the flavored butter down the middle of a sheet of parchment paper. Using a straightedge, form the butter into a cylinder and roll the paper over it so that it keeps its shape. You can store it in the freezer for up to 6 months, slicing off coins of butter as needed.”
Today’s Trial Recipe Rating:
Novelty Rating: 4 of 5 stars.
It’s not a 5 only because i wouldn’t eat it on its own.
Likelihood of Repeat: 75%
prolly going to add this to my repertoire of edible gifts, for those I’m not worried abouy fattening up.
Lesson Learned: Do not underestimate the power of butter. Also: this will be a great way to use the herbs growing in my spring garden while also trimming them to grow bushier.