When I think about making pesto, a romantic little picture is painted in my brain. I’m in a rustic, Tuscany-style home, barefoot in some sort of oldish, wrinkled – yet totally chic – long, linen dress, in a kitchen that’s older than my great, great grandma, and I’m there making pesto with the guidance of a sweet Italian old woman I can barely communicate with.
I’m adding stuff to the mortar and pestal, grinding it up and we’re laughing and looking adorable. The pesto is made from fresh basil that I picked just a few moments before, the cheese made from the neighbor’s cow and the garlic is fresh from the early morning’s walk (because I imagine you can just walk down the street and run into garlic everywhere. I dunno?). I’ve never been to Italy, sadly, so I’m not positive, but in my brain this is how it works.
The real life story of this pesto is that it was made by a girl living in LA who’s had one too many tootsie rolls this past week and needs a proper dinner. I have electricity so I opted to make this using a food processor, though a pretty mortar and pestal is totally on my Christmas list!
I’m a pretty big fan of pestos that aren’t traditional (evidence: here and here), which makes me believe that maybe I should be calling them something other than “pestos,” but whatever. This “pesto” is what I like to think of as a basil-no-longer exists kind of pesto. It celebrates the changing season, so kale is in place of fresh basil.
In this instance I used dino. Mainly because it’s called dino and that’s the coolest name in the world for a vegetable. If I was a dude I totally wish my name was dino.
Also, do you think dinosaurs ate dino kale? Hope so.
[click to continue…]
Pasta: A Love Story.
Week nights are weird. Most of the time you’re tired and kind of want to just eat something, chill out, sit on the couch and watch a few things before you have to do it all over again the next day. I know what this feels like. And most nights cooking something even slightly labor-intensive is really daunting, but take-out also seems like a lot of work because you have to talk to someone…on the phone. And forget about driving somewhere, you JUST got home. UGH. And OMG the feeling of hungry has now turned into HANGRY (hungry + angry), and you just wanna eat something. right. this. second. When this is the case, I turn to pasta–it’s my go-to. Always and forever.
Over the years I’ve become a private master of the “15-minute pasta dish for one person.” Lemon pasta. Vegetable scrap pasta. Spaghetti with eggs and lots of black pepper. Carbonara. Butter and crushed red pepper (not all that exciting). Butter and cheese pasta (also not that exciting, but very dependable), and the list goes on and on…
If you do a small amount of planning and remember to a buy a few red peppers over the weekend, this is a new little 15-minute pasta that could enter your rotation. It’s a solid one.
[click to continue…]
I have cooking mood swings. There are days when I want something to go from my fridge, to a pan, to my mouth in, like, 15 minutes. I have recipes for that!
Other times–usually on Sundays–I want to cook something that’s a little challenging, you know, try a bit of a kitchen project. I think challenges are a good time. I really enjoy throwing on music and starting something that’s a little tricky; I find it methodical (and often times delicious).
Enter: homemade pasta.
No fancy Kitchenaid pasta attachment needed. Just a fork and a rolling pin. That’s all. And some muscles, too. You’ll for sure get a crazy bicep workout rolling out dough.
This is a bit of a step-by-step. I think we should dive in. Now!
(This post is in collaboration with Bravo for their show, Around the World in 80 Plates. This week they’re in Rome, Italy. Check it out on Wednesday at 10pm/9pmc on Bravo!!)
[click to continue…]
A few Friday things:
1. I’m officially addicted to Pinterest. I feel like I’ve said this before, but then I forget about it and blah blah. But this week I reorganized my pins, started following more people, etc. I’m into it!
2. Do you ever love a song so much that you google the lyrics so you can sing along? I can’t be the only person that does this. A lil’ embarrassing, but how else are you supposed to memorize the CORRECT lyrics?
3. I sometimes think I was put on this earth to convince skeptical people to watch and love Friday Night Lights. I feel like it’s my duty. WATCH IT!
4. Spotify. Are you on it? I like it. I can listen to all sorts of music whenever I want, though, I hate its sharing aspect. I don’t want people to see what ridiculousness I’m listening to. I don’t ALWAYS listen to cool-people music. And sometimes I wanna listen to the same song over and over and I don’t want to be judged, okay?! If you, too, feel this way, “private profile” is the way to go.
5. Trying is very important. I try hard at all sorts of things. Another thing that’s important: knowing when to quit. I quit something this week, I think, and it feels sad, but relieving all at the same time.
6. When you quit something, you might have the urge to eat your feelings. That’s cool, but also try drinking them. That’s fun too!
7. In other news, I’m eating more vegan food. Because I like to feel healthy every now and then. And I’m in love with this bathing suit. This pasta could be considered “bathing suit pasta.” It’s totally a thing.
[click to continue…]
I feel like I’ve been a little bit of a psycho lately. It started a few weeks ago when I was like, Man, what if I put bacon on popcorn? That was cool. Then there were these salty oatmeal cookies, followed by bone marrow and then fried corn dog tots. Ugh. After all that I needed a hike and a fruit bowl, you know what I mean?
So, I went on the hike–it was pretty. And had a fruit bowl, but then I needed dinner, a real dinner…
[click to continue…]
Did you ever forge your mother’s signature? I did. Once. And of course I got caught. Duh. That’s how it always goes.
I was 10 years old and got a detention. I’m not afraid to say that my mama scared me when I was little. I didn’t mess with her. So I figured it’d be way easier and less terrifying to just forge her pretty yet complicated signature. She did (and still does) have a really beautiful signature. Think writing out of Downton Abbey (I’m obsessed!).
So, I sat in my room and practiced and practiced and practiced. After about a hundred attempts I totally nailed it. Feeling successful, I turned in the signed detention and started serving my time. I was having fun, actually. The teacher who supervised detention didn’t have anything under control and I remember laughing and joking with kids in the back of the room. It got sort of quiet for some reason and I remember hearing high heels clacking down the hall. At the door was my mama, looking super sharp in a business lady suit, giving me a glare that was SO scary. OMG did I stop laughing. She was truly terrifying.
[click to continue…]
Happy Friday, lovelies! I like you. I made this for you. It’s a loooong weekend. Yay for all of us!
(Except me, because I work freelance. But whatevs.)
What are you doing this weekend? I’m hitting the yoga studio. I’ve finally caved and realize typing doesn’t count as exercise. And since I don’t believe in dieting, I need to be active so I’m not forced to buy an entire new wardrobe.
I think you should make this…it’s PASTA CAKE! Don’t you just love the title?
The title is super sneaky, because, as you can see, it’s not cake, but more of a frittata of sorts. I still liked it. And plus, if it did actually have flour and baking soda and was a cake, it’d just be plain weird. And seeing as I made a super weird dish last time, I’d figure I’d bring you something somewhat normal.
Like most frittatas this dish could go so many ways. You could add mushrooms, asparagus, broccoli–basically any thing in your fridge that needs getting rid of.
[click to continue…]
Meatballs are kinda of awesome. What’s not awesome is deciding you really don’t want to eat meat anymore, and forgetting that meatballs are sort of included in that category. I needed to find a substitute. One that wouldn’t make me miss my Mom’s beefy ones, which truly, is a nearly impossible feat. When I searched for recipes, most of them seemed to end up using bread crumbs as the base and the idea of eating a bowl of pasta with bread balls on it is just nutritionally unappealing, regardless of how good they might taste.
However, over the holidays I visited my old stomping ground, The Saluda Grade Café, which I once worked at as a waitress, and was pleasantly surprised to see eggplant meatballs had been added to the menu. I took my first taste and could feel the clouds part and the heavens singing – these were what I had been looking for! I begged Kaye, the owner, for the recipe but she wasn’t able to give it to me. I can’t tell you why but trust me that I begged and pleaded to the best of my ability, all to no avail. So instead, I went on a mission.
[click to continue…]
