food comas

The basil in our Aerogarden has been growing wildly lately and needed to be, umm, harvested. To maximize its usage, I decided to make pesto because it would use the most basil and make something we haven’t tried in a while. I combined regular and lemon basil since both needed to be used up and made a very quick and simple pesto that I served on top of penne pasta. Per Jen’s suggestion, I also sautéed some baby spinach to add a little more flavor and greenery to the dish, and was very happy with the result. I think pesto and pasta can be improvised with, so the ingredients, amounts and yield are rough.

Homemade Pesto with Penne Pasta

Yield: 2-3 servings

Ingredients:

• 1-2 cups of basil leaves
• 1/4 cup of olive oil
• 1/8 cup of pine nuts
• 1/2-1 cup of grated Parmesan (I actually used a mixture of grated gourmet cheeses)
• 2 cloves of garlic (or 1 huge one that I had in stock)
• penne or any other pasta, cooked al dente
• spinach (optional)

Directions:

Boil water and cook the pasta according to the directions on the packaging. Put all the pesto ingredients in a blender and blend to desired consistency.

Sautée spinach in a small pan, using a bit of cooking oil.

Combine pasta, pesto, and spinach. Sprinkle with additional cheese and pine nuts if you like and serve!