Pesto and Arugula Day

Friday 16 July 2010

We had almost 20 people for lunch today. Luckily Ella helped Maureen and me. We made a white bean soup with tarragon. I cooked the white beans with lots of garlic--for 2 cups dry, soaked white beans I used four heads of garlic. Peel, don't smash the cloves. They make a mild, flavorful vegetarian broth. Then I sautéed a base of onions, fennel bulbs and baby carrots. The cooked beans, garlic and cooking water went into them with fresh tarragon, turnips and cauliflower. The garnish made the soup come alive: Italian parsley leaves, anchovies, lemon zest (organic please), one dried red chili and olive oil buzzed in the food processor to a textured paste. That went into the hot soup. Yum. Don't be afraid of anchovies! They carry huge flavor. Rinse them if you must. Or try the fresh, glorious tasting white ones.

Then Ella made pesto from the purple basil. It was surprisingly good. I made one from Italian basil. Classic recipe. We tossed it on potatoes and on pasta. It's not uncommon to see the two tossed together with pesto in Genoa.

Someone asked me if I use basil in other ways...I don't use it nearly as much as other herbs, but it's great with peaches, in sweet tea, torn in salad, rolled into Vietnamese summer rolls, in vinaigrettes or tucked into stuffed kale or cabbage rolls. Basil does seem to be best fresh though.

Technique: Classic Basil Pesto (Batuto alla Genovese)
Pesto alla Genovese (of Genoa) is a green sauce that was born in the northwestern Italian region of Liguria, where the Mediterranean/Ligurian Sea warms the land enough to grow olives. (Further inland Piemonte cannot grow olives.) Originally pestos were pounded in a mortar with a pestle, a method that produces a greener—and some say finer—pesto than the more modern food processor. If you wish to mimic the mortar and pestle, place herbs into a heavy plastic baggie and pound them with a meat pounder before processing in food processor. Guliano Bugalli says that basil, garlic, olive oil, pine nuts or walnuts and pecorino or Parmigiano cheese are the true, traditional ingredients.
Makes about 1 cup. Toss on freshly cooked pasta, potatoes or vegetables.

2 ounces (2 cups packed) fresh basil leaves, no stems
1/2 ounce (1/2 cup packed) Italian parsley leaves
1 to 2 cloves garlic, 1 tablespoon chopped, 1/2 ounce
1 ounce (1/4 cup) toasted or raw pine nuts
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 to 2 ounces (1/4 to 1/2 cup) mixed shredded Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or Pecorino Romano
Optional: 1/4 cup heavy cream

1. Prepare ingredients: Pull leaves from herbs stems, discard stems then rinse leaves and spin or blot dry. To soften garlic flavor, use less or blanch whole, unpeeled cloves in boiling water 30 seconds to 1 minute and peel. Toast nuts if desired and cool before using—it will bring out their best flavor.

2. Purée herbs, garlic, and nuts together in a food processor until smooth; scrape down sides several times.

4. Add oil: With processor running, pour oil into herb-nut purée a thin stream and purée until very smooth. Scrape pesto out into bowl, taste, and season with a little salt (cheese will add saltiness) and freshly ground pepper. Pesto may be frozen at this point—a thin film of oil over the top keeps it from oxidizing into black.

5. To serve: Grate cheese, if using, and toss it with pesto. Adding cheese just before serving assures that the cheese will taste its best. Thin pesto with cream or pasta cooking water before tossing on pasta.

The squash blossoms were out in full force so Ella and Liz picked more than 70 of them and we stuffed them with a mixture of ground turkey chorizo (it was a little too spicy I think), grated yellow squash which I salted for 20 minutes and then squeezed the liquid out of--and some ciabatta bread crumbs. I ground the crumbs and meat separately in the food processor and mixed them with the squash and some fresh thyme. We stuffed the blossoms and laid them into an oiled roasting pan with a little soup broth. Covered them with foil and baked them for 30 minutes at 350F. I uncovered them and let them roast another 5 to 10 minutes. Last year I did them with rice and pork. I think a milder filling is best.

There was a lot of arugula so I had Ella toss it with olive oil and salt then drizzled fresh lemon juice over it. That is hands-down the best way to eat arugula fresh from the garden.

It's paradise at the farm this year. We crave this sunny warm weather interspersed with rain. Though thunderstorms wreak havoc with our electric supply. One freezer tripped off and we didn't discover it for two days. Now everyone will have to eat some of the salvaged--no meat or protein was lost, thank the gods.