The Pontificators

I think I’m going to start a series on recipes for two people, based on the awesome dinners my boy Simon and I make.

notes:

• wherever possible, ingredients are organic and local. they are a little more expensive that way (very little, really, during farmer’s market season!), but taste oh-so-much better.
• 99% of measurements are approximate — but we rarely make things that are hurt by eyeballing.

on to the foods!

nettle pesto, asparagus, and ravioli

it was my day off, and I promised to make something yummy for dinner. it’s one of my favorite things, when I have the time, to have something delicious ready (or close to it) when Simon gets home from work. we love cooking together, but I work until close to eleven five nights a week — so it’s especially fun to share good food with him at the end of the day.

I’m crazy about nettles right now — yeah, the stuff you snagged yourself on when you were a kid. cooked, even briefly, nettles lose their sting and are high in iron and tons of vitamins, as well as helpful with seasonal allergies. you can steam or sautee them as you would any green, or pour boiling water on them for a nice spring tea (local honey boosts the anti-allergy factor).

I ended up spending the bulk of the day working on my novel and visiting with a friend. I started this pesto about a half hour before he got home, but it was still ready in time. it takes a tiny bit of prep, but it tastes way fancier than it is and is always popular.

the pesto

this is my basic pesto, plus nettles. they add a nice subtlety and lots of nutrition without making it taste un-pesto-ey or otherwise weird.

(let me remind you: nothing is measured, but you can’t go too far wrong with pesto. it will always taste amazing.)

also, you’ll have leftovers. I’m planning on doing a pesto sauce for pizza later this week.

• equal parts basil and fresh, young stinging nettle (a medium-large  bunch of each) *use gloves when handling raw nettles!*
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• a handful of grated parmesan
• garlic (*to your liking* – I use 4-5 cloves and I use ‘em raw, but I like the heat they give, as well as the immune-boosting properties. 1-2 cloves raw or roasted would be more appropriate for milder tastes.)
• extra virgin olive oil (to your liking — I use a couple tablespoons, but you can increase it for a richer sauce or decrease it for a lower fat sauce. some would add butter here, but I like to keep it simple.)

pluck the nettle leaves from the stock, rinse, and drop into a pot of boiling water for a few seconds, until they turn bright green.

chop all ingredients finely (or throw them in a food processor!) and blend well.

ta da! amazing pesto. people will think you are a skilled chef, and also adventurous. and it only took like five minutes. (ok, a little more if you don’t have a food processor.)

(food processor tangent: later editions will follow on homemade salsa and hummus, and how great it is that you never have to buy those things again if you have a food processor and, seriously, five minutes to make something awesome that people will request again and again.)

the meal

drop several handfuls of pasta (product placement! Rising Moon Organics makes amazing ravioli and tortellini — we used the feta, hazelnut, and butternut squash flavor tonight: so good.) into boiling water and cook until done.

break or chop off the ends of about half a pound of asparagus, rinse, and chop into bite-size pieces. sautee in a drizzle of olive oil and a splash of red wine until tender.

add cooked pasta to the pan with asparagus, and spoon delicious pesto over it all. stir until everything is covered in wonderful bright green beauty.

garnish with a little more parmesan, pine nuts, and black pepper.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 27th, 2009 at 10:06 pm and is filed under Lucy, Recipes, dinner for two, food. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.