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Artichoke pesto
I have been sick as a dog for the past three days -- I knew it was bad when I got a fever (which never happens to me) and worse, could not taste chocolate -- but I'm miraculously better today, even if I do sound like a five-pack-a-day smoker, and thus, I am finally cooking again. (And drinking a martini, duh.)
I cook a lot (check the "50 recipes" and "food and drink" tags), and being sick has meant I had neither energy nor inspiration to do so. It was ridiculously exciting to pull even this half-assed recipe for artichoke pesto together after several days of not cooking at all.
It is important to note that even though I can and do cook very elaborate food sometimes, I am fundamentally lazy. Thus, in the face of an artichoke pesto recipe I searched for once I remembered that a) I had canned artichoke hearts in the house and b) they could be used to make pesto, I looked at the one cup of fresh parsley the recipe called for and had the following conversation in my head:
"Hey, you could use all that beautiful Italian parsley that volunteered at the foot of the front garden! ... or, you could not go outside in the pouring rain to pick parsley that's been marinating in automotive exhaust, and you could thaw some frozen spinach instead. Also, you could hand-grate a whole bunch of asiago cheese ... or you could use the last of that pre-shredded Sargento Mexican cheese blend."
Franklin said that necessity is the mother of invention. I say it's laziness.
Artichoke Pesto
* about 1/3 cup walnut halves or pieces
* 1 big-ass clove of garlic or 2 regular-sized ones
* 1 14oz can artichoke hearts (mine were quartered, but it doesn't matter; point is, standard-size can)
* about a half-cup of thawed frozen spinach with the liquid squeezed out
* 2 scallions, chopped
* about 1/4 cup shredded cheese, whatever you have as long as it's got some zing
* half a lemon, or 2-3 Tbsp of jarred lemon juice
* about 1/4 cup of olive oil
* salt & pepper to taste
Toast walnuts on the stove or in the oven until fragrant, 5-10 minutes. Whomp the crap out of them in the food processor along with the garlic.
Add remaining ingredients and continue whomping until well-blended. Adjust seasonings. Makes about 2 cups.
The other point of my logging all of this is so I could estimate the calories, since the USDA's rudimentary food-tracking program is pretty damned unlikely to have artichoke pesto. I calculate around 962 calories for the batch, which I suppose isn't so hot if you're planning on eating the entire two cups yourself (and it's tempting), but is really not so bad when you consider that a half-cup serving over pasta is probably just fine.
Anyway. Artichoke pesto. Do with it what you will.
I cook a lot (check the "50 recipes" and "food and drink" tags), and being sick has meant I had neither energy nor inspiration to do so. It was ridiculously exciting to pull even this half-assed recipe for artichoke pesto together after several days of not cooking at all.
It is important to note that even though I can and do cook very elaborate food sometimes, I am fundamentally lazy. Thus, in the face of an artichoke pesto recipe I searched for once I remembered that a) I had canned artichoke hearts in the house and b) they could be used to make pesto, I looked at the one cup of fresh parsley the recipe called for and had the following conversation in my head:
"Hey, you could use all that beautiful Italian parsley that volunteered at the foot of the front garden! ... or, you could not go outside in the pouring rain to pick parsley that's been marinating in automotive exhaust, and you could thaw some frozen spinach instead. Also, you could hand-grate a whole bunch of asiago cheese ... or you could use the last of that pre-shredded Sargento Mexican cheese blend."
Franklin said that necessity is the mother of invention. I say it's laziness.
Artichoke Pesto
* about 1/3 cup walnut halves or pieces
* 1 big-ass clove of garlic or 2 regular-sized ones
* 1 14oz can artichoke hearts (mine were quartered, but it doesn't matter; point is, standard-size can)
* about a half-cup of thawed frozen spinach with the liquid squeezed out
* 2 scallions, chopped
* about 1/4 cup shredded cheese, whatever you have as long as it's got some zing
* half a lemon, or 2-3 Tbsp of jarred lemon juice
* about 1/4 cup of olive oil
* salt & pepper to taste
Toast walnuts on the stove or in the oven until fragrant, 5-10 minutes. Whomp the crap out of them in the food processor along with the garlic.
Add remaining ingredients and continue whomping until well-blended. Adjust seasonings. Makes about 2 cups.
The other point of my logging all of this is so I could estimate the calories, since the USDA's rudimentary food-tracking program is pretty damned unlikely to have artichoke pesto. I calculate around 962 calories for the batch, which I suppose isn't so hot if you're planning on eating the entire two cups yourself (and it's tempting), but is really not so bad when you consider that a half-cup serving over pasta is probably just fine.
Anyway. Artichoke pesto. Do with it what you will.