Pastas Aplenty

It has been a while since I posted. Last week wasn't an ideal cooking week. Some days were gorgeous and we were out and about all day. Other days had 100% humidity and we were in the bedroom all day with the window a/c running.

With all the hot humid weather last week the basil on our fire escape was growing like crazy. I found some pine nuts in the freezer and I made my first batch of pesto for the season. It was tasty. I didn't use a recipe, just my taste buds. A small clove of garlic, a few handfuls of basil, a handful of toasted pine nuts, olive oil, parmesan cheese (actually we currently have grana padano), and salt. We dipped baguette (from Pozzo's) slices in the pesto. Delicious!

Last week's pesto (blended in the food processor):

small clove of garlic
few handfuls of basil
handful of toasted pine nuts
olive oil
Grana Padano
salt

Another evening we got home late from enjoying the beautiful weather and I just threw together a quick lemon herb sauce. As far as the herbs go I used mostly thyme, some rosemary, and a touch of basil. I tossed that together with some capellini.

Here's what was in our lemon herb sauce:

Olive oil
garlic
lemon juice
fresh herbs
red pepper flakes (just a touch)
chicken broth

Yesterday we made Grandma's Spaghetti Sauce. The last time I made it all by myself and it wasn't as good as when Brian is in charge. Brian made an excellent sauce yesterday. I helped with the prep work and juggled the baby at the same time. It was one of the best batches, I think!

Here's what we put in it:

4 large Spanish onions, finely chopped
several garlic cloves, chopped (about 1/2 head)
1lb lean ground beef
1lb hot Italian sausage
many cans of tomatoes (I think we use 8-10 28oz cans), some diced, pureed, etc.
Italian seasoning, oregano, salt, pepper

For the cans of tomatoes I bought a variety of brands. Our favorite, San Marzano Brand, are fairly expensive and weren't at Fairway (www.fairwaymarket.com) where I was purchasing all the ingredients. We really liked Scalafani's tomatoes (www.scalafanifoods.com) and Colavita's were pretty good too (www.colavita.com).

Right now our large pot of sauce is in the fridge. When Brian gets home from work we will ladle the sauce into ziploc bags and freeze the rest for future Sunday meals.

Pesto Rating: 6

Lemon Herb Sauce Rating: 7

Grandma's Pasta Sauce Rating: 8