Nothing says summer like fresh basil in the garden. My basil is just starting to come to fruition and I should have a LOT of it very soon. Of course the best thing for basil is fresh pesto. I love it on simple pasta with nothing else. Tonight I was looking for a quick meal and penne with pesto was just the thing to satisfy me. I threw in some fresh spinach too. I don’t usually do this but tonight I wanted a more hearty green pesto full of nutritious greens. My only problem this evening is that I ran out of parmigiano reggiano. I know – sacrilege! But it happened. The pesto was good but it just wasn’t quite right without it. For this pesto I used a couple heaping handfuls of fresh picked basil, a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves, 3 cloves of garlic, the juice of half a lemon, a half cup of walnuts (pine nuts are also traditionally used), salt, pepper, and olive oil – maybe 3 tablespoons. I threw it all in the blender except for the olive oil which was drizzled in until the consistency was just right. This was simply poured over the hot cooked pasta and it was mixed up and enjoyed! Ah, Pesto!
Summertime Pesto
Sausage and Stuff
I don’t know what else to call it other than good. A number of years ago there was an Italian restaurant in a little town near here in of all places a Howard Johnsons hotel. The decor was boring but the food was great. On their menu they had a wonderful country Italian dish they called sausage and peppers. It had Italian sausage cooked with white beans, onions, garlic, roasted red peppers and slightly spicy pepperoncinis. I think it had bits of tomato and herbs. I wanted to make something that reminded me of that dish. Unfortunately I didn’t have any white beans in the pantry and no red bell peppers to speak of. So I put together something a little bit different but with a similar taste. I started with sliced onions and garlic in a big pot. I added zucchini because I had it in the fridge. In went whatever sausage I had on hand in the freezer. There were three links of polish sausage and three links of a garlic sausage. About a dozen sliced up pepperoncinis, a can of chopped tomatoes, a bit of chicken stock, thyme and oregano and I had the basis for my country style Italian sausage and stuff. I also cooked up some whole wheat penne and added that to the pot. It actually worked together. I was pleased.