Super Green Pesto with Cashews and FINALLY How to Store Basil

If you are anything like me then your fridge is stuffed with beautiful greens that aren't your spouse's favorite and your kids won't touch with a ten foot pole. You also, now that it's July, might be starting to get some small basil bunches in your CSA of farmer's market. But basil here in the northeast isn't out of control yet like it will be in a couple of weeks.

I am completely sick of sauteed greens. And it's too hot for kale soup. In my fridge I had a half a bunch of spinach, some kale leaves and a small bunch of basil. So last weekend I whipped out the food processor and decided to make some Super Green Pesto.

SUPER BASIL NEWS ALERT!!: I think I finally discovered how to store basil. After years of struggling to keep basil from turning black or liquifying, I had just stopped buying it. I assumed basil was meant for people who had green thumbs and back yards full of sun. But in the summer it looks too yummy, I can't resist. Most of the TV chefs recommend cutting the stems and storing on the countertop in a glass of water like a bunch of flowers. For me, this resulted in foul smelling water and slimy inedible basil within 48 hours. Then I tried something different. I took my small bunch home from the farmer's market and soaked it just like my other greens in a sink full of water with some vinegar. I shook off the water and stored it in a plastic bag in the fridge in the crisper drawer. A couple of the leaves turned brown, but 90% of the bunch was happy and healthy a week later when I used it!! Finally. It only took me ten years to figure that one out.

Super Green Pesto with Cashews

1 Small bunch of basil
5-6 large leaves of kale
About 2 hearty handfuls of spinch
One garlic clove
Lemon juice (about 1 tablespoon)
A handful of raw cashews (about 1/3 of a cup)
Olive oil (about 1/2 of a cup)
Salt and pepper to taste

Chop or Chiffonade your kale, place it in your food processor. Add the basil leaves, spinach leaves, garlic clove, lemon juice and a drizzle of oil. Pulse until chopped but not pureed.





Add your raw cashews. Raw nuts are softer and will better attain the consistency you are looking for. Run your processor while you drizzle in the remaining oil. Your pesto may need more or less oil to achieve the consistency you want. I don't like a super oily pesto.




Scrape down the sides and incorporate everything. Add some parmesean cheese if you like. I didn't though. Add you salt and pepper to taste and give it a last run. There you go!





Rather than pouring over pasta, I sauteed some scallions, summer squash and snow peas. Just before they were done I added a healthy amount of the pesto and dropped a couple eggs on top. I covered the pan and let the eggs cook. It was a wonderfully light summer dinner but would make an equally good breakfast.

Pesto made entirely from basil can be too strong and not so high in nutrients. This is a great way to use your CSA greens and kick up the nutritional value of your basil pesto. It also freezes really well. I used half and froze half.

Enjoy!!

This post is shared with Simple Lives Thursday and Food Renegade's Fight Back Fridays

Asparagus and Spinach Pizza

I am stuck in a food rut. I am hoping that the burgeoning vegetable season will inspire me to cook new foods.

Case in point, pizza. I make homemade pizza probably two to three times a month. I have fallen into a comforting routine of meaty spaghetti sauce, spinach, pepperoni (more on that later) and chevre style cheese with parmesan. The kids like it and usually eat it.

But last week I couldn’t. I was so sick of it. The kids were hungry. I knew a new concoction could backfire. But the air was balmy and blowing into my galley kitchen from the eastern side. And I said screw it. Enter pizza with olive oil, spinach, onions, asparagus, olives, chevre style cheese and parmesan cheese. Not that it is a massive difference from the original, but no sauce or meat made this pie feel very very light. Yet it was totally satisfying.

All I did was to start with my homemade whole wheat pizza crust, and add olive oil. I brushed it around so that the coating was even and went right to the end, not just where the toppings were. I then piled up the veggies, spinach first so that it cooked down followed by finely chopped asparagus, thinly sliced onions, olives and then finally the cheeses and some fresh black pepper. Everyone ate everything. I didn’t even tell Thing 1 that he had eaten asparagus. Who cares. He ate it!

If you are stuck in a rut, change it up

Spinach and Belgian Stoemp

I am declaring the local food season officially OPEN!! After months of dwindling vendors and almost no produce besides apples and potatoes I am starting to see the people come back. Our Inwood farmer’s market is now sporting a new vendor selling sprouts! They are not quite as delicate as Two Guys from Woodbridge that works the USQ Greenmarket. But they aren’t bad. He has told me that his sprouts are seasonal unlike the Woodbridge Guys who grow them hydroponically year round.

Another fantastic thing I keep seeing is spinach! Spinach is a spring delicacy here in New York. I just don’t see it locally as the summer gets on. Our CSA sometimes has it in June. But that spinach has a tendency to liquefy after 2 days out of the ground. This time of year the getting is good for hearty spinach. It isn’t too old or too babyish. It is simply perfect. And I think we have a few weeks too, because I am just starting to see it show up. By the middle of May the stalls will be overflowing with spinach.

The week before last, I bought 2 big bags thinking that they looked small. But when I got home, it was as though the things had had babies. There was so much spinach I almost didn’t have room for it. We now throw it into everything! Pizza, green eggs, guacamole (it is actually amazing in guacamole), and even the smoothies that Thing 2 is currently boycotting. But then again, he is currently boycotting everything. I am breathing deeply and cherishing the fact that his older brother is now eating everything from braised brisket to kale soup.

If you have trouble getting spinach clean, try this. Fill up your sink with cool water. Add a bit of vinegar. I use Bragg’s Apple Cider Vinegar. Float your spinach in the water for 30 minutes. Be sure to agitate the plants so that all the sediment comes off. When you feel that they are clean enough, remove the plants from the water, shake off the excess and towel dry. Store wrapped in a plastic grocery bag in the fridge. Even if you place them in the crisper, they will stay good longer in a plastic bag. Or you can remove the stems and store in a large glass Tupperware in the fridge. That’s what I do. All my lettuces go together in a 4 quart glass bowl with a tight fitting lid. My greens are good for a week or two. A few days ago my colleagues at work questioned whether my stuff was really organic because it lasts so long. But they are organic. I think it is the soak in the water before storage.

Recently I went to one of my favorite place to eat a stick to my ribs lunch in New York, Le Petite Abeille. Their croque monsieur and omelettes are to die for, as are their French fries. I try to stay away, but these are hand cut lovingly fried Belgian fries. Though I try to stay away from the polyunsaturated oils and fried foods in general, I find I just can’t do it sometimes. C’est la vie, n’est-pas? Well, on my recent trip I did manage to order something that didn’t come with fries. But it did come with this oddity they called stoemp. I had never heard of it. The menu seemed pretty devoted to it. I ordered and hoped for the best.

When my plat arrived I saw, stoemp was just mashed potatoes with stuff mixed in it. My stoemp had spinach and leeks in it. Brilliant. I didn’t even have to look up a recipe for this one. I have now made the dish twice, and I highly recommend peeling the potatoes. My first batch was ruined by some very bitter red skinned potatoes. And don’t even bother cooking the spinach. I did that in the first batch, and I really didn’t need to. Uncooked spinach will wilt down when added to the mashed potatoes, but stays fresh enough to give the final dish some bulk and nice color. By the way, I made the pictured batch on Easter Sunday with a perfectly braised brisket (so much better than my overcooked Crockpot versions) and we all agreed that this was the best Easter dinner ever!

STOEMP

2 very large potatoes, I used peeled redskins

2 tablespoons of good quality butter

1 leek, white and light green part only (throw the top into your freezer stock bag with other veggie scraps, and if you don’t currently do that—start!)

2 handfuls of washed spinach, chopped.

Boil the potatoes until soft, drain and add milk sufficient to make mashed potatoes. Mash the potatoes by whatever means you prefer. In a small skillet melt the butter and add the leeks. Fry the leeks on medium heat until they are soft and just starting to turn brown. Mean while, fold the chopped spinach into the hot potatoes. When the leeks have cooked, add them and all the butter into the mashed potatoes and mix well. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Our kids don’t like mashed potatoes (I know, I don’t get it either…) so DH and I couldn’t finish it. Therefore there were enough for me to have leftovers with a hardboiled egg for breakfast the next morning. Hallelujah, it was an Easter miracle!

Spinach Madeline: The Best Holiday Side You'll Ever Eat

Spinach Madeline is an old recipe from one of those 1940's era Junior League Cookbooks that uses a can of soup as the first ingredient for virtually everything.

My father has just opened this email and he is now dying laughing.

I was born in New Orleans. My parents lived there for several years and I think they truly enjoyed the local culture, which even today has a uniquely regional feeling. New Orleans is unlike any place I can think of in the US. When I was there recently I felt that the natives celebrated their differences from standard American culture. For this I was especially happy!! While we place so much importance in our culture on indiviuality we are all, remarkably, the same.

Spinach Madeline was a recipe that my parents discovered while they were living in New Orleans. I was never sure exactly where they had it first, a friend's house, or if they had the cookbook and made it because it looked good. Perhaps my Dad will comment down below and solve the mystery. But today, this recipe has gone viral. We make the spinach for every holiday gathering. And most of the folks that have married into our family are now making the dish. My brother now makes it at every holiday with his family. I do as well. And some of my sister-in-law's do too. My grandmother on my mother's side always made it and some of my friends have too. It just isn't a Christmas without someone emailing me asking for this recipe. A few years ago, my Dad converted it to a word document, so now whenever anyone asks for the original recipe there it is all typed up and ready to attach!

The recipe can be found in a book called The River Road Recipes, which is filled with recipes for things that you'd never want to eat. In fact, the original recipe is filled with ingredients that you'd never want to eat like processed cheese and evaporated milk. Though when we were kids, my folks made it exactly the way the recipe called, roll cheese and all. As I have become an adult, I have altered the recipe to make it more "real food".

Here is the altered recipe-

Spinach Madeleine

2 pkgs. Frozen spinach
3/4 tsp. Celery seed
4 tbls. Butter
3/4 tsp. Granulated Garlic
2 tbls.Flour
salt to taste
2 tbls. Chopped onion
6 oz. Pepperjack cheese
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp. Worchestershire sauce
1/2 cup vegetable liquor (from the cooked spinach)
red pepper (Cayenne) to taste
1/2 tsp. Black pepper

Cook spinach according to directions on package. Drain and reserve liquor. Melt butter in saucepan over low heat Add flour, stirring until blended and smooth, but not brown. Add onion and cook until soft but not brown. Add liquid slowly, stirring constantly to avoid lumps. Cook until smooth and thick; continue stirring. Add seasonings and cheese which has been cut into small pieces. Stir until melted. Combine with cooked spinach. This may be served immediately or put into a casserole and topped with buttered bread crumbs. The flavor is improved if the latter is done and kept in refrigerator overnight. This may also be frozen. Serves 5-6.

Mrs. William G. Reymond
Adapted from River Road Recipes
(the first volume)

Mrs Reymond, you are probably not be alive today. But I can honestly say, you have contributed to countless holiday memories in my family and others. Seriously, try this recipe. If there is a dish that embodies a family gathering in my mind, it is this one!!

Merry Christmas Y'All!