All of the Pesto, None of the Basil

CG — Thu, 06 May 2021 07:45:00 +0000

Something new that I’m doing in 2021 is getting farm box delivery. I have really enjoyed the pandemic practice of minimizing trips to the grocery store, but running out of fresh vegetables is the pits. It’s been great having a box full of veggies show up at my door ever couple of weeks.

I’m a big fan of vegetables in the crunchy water family (I believe that’s the technical term) – celery, cucumbers, etc. and one of my favorite things to get in my farm box delivery is radishes.

One week, I noticed that the greens on the radishes were looking particularly lovely. Were they edible? Yes! What could I make with them? Pesto!

Since this was an experiment with bonus vegetables (radish greens are now on my list with beet greens as a vegetable gift-with-purchase), I didn’t worry about not having all the right ingredients to make pesto (such as basil or pine nuts). I just threw the radish greens in the blender with some other things I had on hand to see what would happen.

It turned out good enough to share the recipe with you here.

Radish Greens Pesto

Suggested Ingredients:

Bunch of radish greens (cleaned)
Handful or two of walnuts (I don’t keep pine nuts on hand, but I always have walnuts around)
Couple cloves of garlic
Lots of lemon juice
Plenty of olive oil
Some salt

Blitz the radishes, garlic, and lemon juice in the food processor until the greens are mostly broken down.

Throw the walnuts in and keep blitzing until it resembles a lumpy paste (so that you can’t tell that they are walnuts anymore and the whole thing has taken on a pretty, light green color).

Now comes the fun part, let the food processor run and drizzle in olive oil until the concoction sort-of smooths out (I feel like Ina Garten when I do this which is why I think it’s so much fun).

I like it on the thick side but add as much olive oil as you like (at least enough to get to a creamy-ish texture).

If you taste it at this point, it will taste very bitter and you will be sad, but don’t despair! Just add salt! A good bit of salt, not just a wee sprinkle.

Now taste it. Magic? Yes. Salt magic. It will be a little more bitter and earthy than a basil/pine nut pesto, but still plenty tangy/zesty.

Now that you have your pesto, what are you going to do with it?

You could put in on pasta, sure. You could use it as a spread or a dip. You could use it to dress a green salad. I use it for a roasted vegetable salad that I have been experimenting with and it is perfect for bringing all the random ingredients I found in my cupboard together.

Lentil and Roasted Veg Salad

Cook ½ cup (or so) lentils (use the kind that stay firm) w/ salt and thyme in water until just done, drain and cool. *or substitute a can of garbanzo beans for the lentils – even easier!
Dice one sweep potato, toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast until tender.
Optional (but delicious): dice some turnips and roast with the sweet potato.

Let everything cool a bit, throw it in a bowl, cover, and throw it in the fridge.

Later add:

A good amount of chopped parsley
Some artichoke hearts
Some sliced radishes
Maybe a scallion
Maybe some grated parmesan
Whatever else is in the fridge/the cupboard/the garden that looks interesting
Lots of your delicious homemade pesto

Get it all mixed together and it’s ready to eat. Or you can throw it back in the fridge for later.

Both the pesto and the roasted vegetable salad feel like good foundations for improvising as the seasons change and different produce is available. What would you add/change?

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Citrus Herb Coleslaw

CG — Thu, 25 Jul 2019 07:46:53 +0000

I pretty much like any slaw: KFC coleslaw, ramen slaw, fancy Asian-style slaw with Napa cabbage, mango and jicama slaw from Trader Joes, the list goes on. It’s the sort of thing that is easy to make at home too. So, last night I made a Citrus Herb Coleslaw. Yum, right? Ok, maybe not your thing, but this combines three things that I really like: lemon, parsley, and slaw.

I had a little bit of some-timers when I was getting ready to make this. I have made it before, but it’s been a good, long while. I remembered the gist of it, but when I went to find the recipe in my Pinterest recipe hoard, it wasn’t there. I think the last time that I made this was before I started hoarding all of my recipes in Pinterest! Yikes!

Ok, let’s google that thing up. Hmmmm…

I found something close, but it wasn’t quite what I wanted. Good thing that I don’t care that much about following recipes. I made up my own version and I’m going to post the recipe here for two reasons:

In case you want to try it (it’s super healthy and delicious).
So that I can find it the next time I want to make it again!

Cynthia’s Citrus Herb Coleslaw

Ingredients:

Non-fat, plain yogurt (Greek or other)
One lemon
One bunch of parsley
One bag of already shredded cabbage
Sugar
Salt
Pepper
Apple Cider Vinegar

First make the dressing.

Combine:

4(ish) tablespoons yogurt
Zest of the lemon
Juice of the lemon
¼ teaspoon salt (or 2 pinches if you don’t feel like measuring)
Good bunch of grinds of black pepper (less than the salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1-2 tablespoons of Apple Cider Vinegar

Wisk it together.

Assemble the slaw:

Add 2(ish) tablespoons of snipped chives (optional)
Add 1 bunch parsley leaves, roughly chopped (I like curly parsley, I know it’s not fashionable, do what you want).
Add bag of shredded cabbage
Combine thoroughly
Cover and refrigerate for at least a little while

Enjoy!

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