Lets Make Pesto!

Here is Stephanie's first video on our blog.  She normally films our videos but she's such a good cook we had to get her in front of the camera! 





4 cups of basil leaves
1 1/2 cups of olive oil
1 cup of pine nuts or walnuts
1 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
3 cloves of garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
 
Use it on pasta or pizza.  It's awesome on a turkey sandwich.   I use it on toast instead of butter.  We love tomato sandwiches and pesto makes them even better.

Homemade "Brodo" Broth

This is the finished product of homemade soup with greens, chicken and homemade meatballs.

 There is nothing better than homemade broth, chicken or beef as it has so much flavor and is a great starter for soups and risotto. It can be frozen and kept on hand.




Basic Recipe for Broth

Whole chicken or chicken breasts ( to keep it lower in fat)
Water to cover your meats and veggies
Celrey 2 to 3 ribs cut into pieces
Carrot 1 or two cut into pieces
Tomato 1 or 2 fresh or a handful of whole canned tomato

Onion 1 large or 2 med sliced into med pieces Fresh herbs ( Italian Parsley, Thyme, basil )
Salt and pepper

Add all to a pot and bring to a boil. Simmer and cook for about 2 hours or so till meat is tender and falling apart.

Here's what the start of the soup looks like

You can strain the soup when it's done and have a clear broth.
You can strain and remove the thyme stems and meats and then blend the cooked veggies into your broth.

If your broth looks like it has too much fat in it, then strain and put the broth into the fridge for a day and the fat will get hard and float to the top. You can then easily remove it.

Here I added some white beans to my soup

After a couple of hours of simmering







Chill strained broth to have the fat harden on top and be easy to remove




You can keep a little for flavor

Steam the greens first and then add to the cooked broth along with some of the cooking liquid

I like to add cooked greens to my soup ( endive, napa cabbage, rappini, anything you like) and then shred my chicken and add it all together to make a wonderfully delicious soup similar to an Italian wedding soup. Add a couple of meatballs that you have made from the freezer and it is a complete dinner.

You can also add some tortellini to the cooked broth and serve with grated cheese for a delicious starter. The possibilities are endless!

When I was little my mom used to ask what we wanted for our birthday dinner and I always wanted her chicken soup with rice.

Cooks note: You can use beef or chicken or a combination of anything you may have in your freezer. Bones give great flavor so make sure your meat has some bones.

Grilled pizza with the help of a Pizza Stone






Grilled Mushroom with Pesto Oil




Grilled pizza with peppers,onion, olive and fresh tomato plus pesto oil

Last night we tried something I saw on Bobby Flay's show.He was showing how to do pizza's on the grill.  His guest grilled her pizza on a stone that was on top of the grill. Now I like my grill marks so I start out on the grill doing both sides, brush some olive oil on your bottom of the dough and then put the dough olive oil side down on the pizza stone. Add the cheeses and close the lid so it starts to melt. Then add your toppings and continue to cook. You have a lot more time when it's on the stone then when it's just  on the grill as it cooks quickly on the grill and can burn easily.

Cooks note:  A Huge Metal Spatula is a tool you will want or a Pizza Peel to help moving the pizza around when you are doing this.

To finish it off, slide it over to the grill again till the cheese is all bubbly and hot and finish off with the pesto oil. Recipe to follow.

Pesto oil recipe


Fresh basil leaves
Fresh garlic
Olive oil and salt to taste


Just mix it all in a blender or mini chop type food processor and drizzle over your pizza when it comes off the grill.


A new cook in training~

 

Basil Harvest 2010

We picked (almost) all of our basil last weekend.  We turned most of it into Pesto, I took video and I'll be posting it soon.  We tried a couple different storeage methods that we will test in a few months.  If everything works out, we'll be eating pesto all winter.  I can't wait to make a pesto pizza!