Green sauces

My thoughts are turning to green pasta sauces these days....

This lovely lady looks like she's eaten a lot of green sauces with that green tinge on her face.

Now that basil's in season, it's time for pesto.

I started making pesto during the 80's when I was into my vegetarian phase which lasted about 3 months.  It began one fall at the Fryeburg Fair in Maine when I looked into the big brown eyes of a cow and thought, "How can I eat that beautiful creature?!"

The Moosewood Cookbook was popular at this time.  No meat in there, but certainly lots of cheese and butter!  I tweaked the Moosewood's pesto recipe by varying the amounts and eliminating the melted butter.  Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Pesto

2 packed cups of washed and dried basil leaves, removed from stems.

2 large cloves garlic

1/4 cup walnuts

1/2 cup packed fresh parsley

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
~1/4 cup olive oil

salt to taste

Combine all ingredients in a food processor, except for olive oil and salt, and blend into a paste. Add olive oil slowly until it has reached a consistency that you like. Add salt to taste. Serve over pasta with a drizzle of olive oil and more parmesan if desired.

Makes enough pesto for 1 pound of pasta - enough to serve 6 people.


The Moosewood Cookbook also featured a Spinach Yogurt sauce.  Last night I wanted to make something with spinach and feta, so I used the sauce recipe as a jump off point.  

That's tasty stuff right there!

Spinach-Feta Sauce

1 pound of fresh spinach, washed and stems removed
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled - I used a reduced fat version
1/2 TB unsalted butter
salt & pepper to taste
plain yogurt cheese - recipe follows
1 pound of fettucine


Wash the spinach and remove the stems, don't dry the spinach.  Place in large pot, steam it over medium heat for a few minutes until done.  Pour off remaining liquid.  Remove from heat and add 1/2 cup of feta until it begins to melt, add the butter, and add a little salt if you like, and some pepper.  Place in a bowl and top with the remaining 1/2 cup of feta.  Serve with fettucine and yogurt cheese on the side.

Yogurt cheese

Place 1 pound of plain yogurt in a sieve - I used a store brand low fat yogurt - and put this over a deep bowl.  Place in refrigerator overnight.  Believe it or not, this will exude almost one cup of liquid.  Discard liquid.  What remains is a cup of lovely thick yogurt cheese that you can use alone as a substitute for cream cheese, as a basis for a dip, or serve with jam or honey with muffins.  Or just eat it with some fruit. 

Pasta flashbacks!

I was just thinking of a meal that was served to me many moons ago.  A very good friend of mine invited me to dinner for pasta with pesto. Although her husband was the cook in the family, she thought she'd step up to the plate, so to speak.  Well, she made pesto alright - except she used dried basil instead of fresh.  Can you imagine?  Oh dear!  At least she tried.  God bless her!


And now another memory shared by a faithful Yankee Kitchen listener...

Chris, devoted fan of Gus's show, wrote to me about his fond memories of a macaroni and cheese that he loved at the Hayes-Bickford cafeteria in Boston's Kenmore Square.  A google search brought up several mentions of their creamy, old-fashioned mac n cheese. Do you remember it?  Do you have a mac n cheese recipe that recreates it?  I'd love to share it and your comments, as well.  Write to me at ykconnection@gmail.com.

Anita