Reggiano | My Kids Really Eat This

Amazing what a handful, or even just a teaspoon, of herbs can do to a dish. Put a tablespoon of fresh chopped thyme with chicken and it adds such a magnificent dimension of flavor. Whether that chicken is roasting whole or sautéing pieces with cream and wine; mmm…yum. Throw some cilantro into Asian or Mexican style chow and it can intensify the already fantastic flavors.

I lifted a fairly plain salad to another level by adding chopped mint, parsley, dill and cilantro. Just a little of each so as not to overpower the other or anything else. It was so delicious and fresh tasting; so summery.

One herb that I’ve had wonderful success growing in my garden is basil but unbelievably I’d never made pesto before… someone else has always done it, until now. We’d gotten some in our CSA bin plus I have some growing outside so I thought I’d give it a try.

I looked up a recipe in The New Elegant But Easy Cookbook and then adapted it for the amount I had on hand and my tastes. (I had a block of Reggiano Parmesan that I grated from myself but you can find some pre-grated in the cheese section of supermarket or Trader Joe’s. I can’t recommend enough to not use the canister of powdered Parmesan cheese, it’s not going to give you the quality results.)

Pesto

In the Cuisinart I chopped together

about 5 cups of basil
1/2 cup of toasted pignoli (pine) nuts
3 garlic cloves
1/2 cup grated Parmegiano Reggiano
salt & pepper to taste

Once blended to a choppy paste, while Cuisinart was on, I poured into top opening between 1/2- 3/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil until its consistency was right. You don’t want it too oily.

It was perfect for us. We had the pesto on Rigatoni pasta. The boys really enjoyed it. Initially they only wanted plain pasta with butter and salt, until they saw it— they wanted to taste it. Once they tasted it, they asked for their pasta with it. I had mine with chopped tomatoes, the boys just pesto. I didn’t put it on too thickly for them, so they could get used to the flavor. It can be a little intense if it’s heavily sauced.