One of the skills we’ll all have to learn sooner or later is that of employing substitutions and making do with what we have when necessary. When it comes to cooking, the final outcome may taste a little different than we remember. And we’ll have to be happy about it, grateful to have ingredients to work with.
To illustrate this idea, I decided to compare two recipes for pesto, the one on the left from SimplyRecipes.com and the one on the right from NatashasKitchen.com.
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Pesto |
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2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed ½ cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan cheese (about 2 ounces) ½ cup extra virgin olive oil 1/3 cup pine nuts 3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 tablespoon) ¼ teaspoon salt, or more to taste 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, or more to taste
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2 cups fresh basil leaves, tightly packed ¾ cup shredded parmesan cheese ½ cup extra virgin olive oil ½ cup pine nuts 2 garlic cloves, large ¼ cup lemon juice (juice of 2 small lemons) ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste ¼ teaspoon black pepper |
Rinse and dry the basil leaves. If you don’t have a salad spinner, improvise with a colander and a flour sack towel. (Put the leaves in the colander, place the colander on a flour sack towel, gather the corners of the towel, and go outside. Swing your arm in wide circles from top to bottom several times to remove as much water as possible from the leaves. Make sure you aren’t going to spray the windows, or someone will be very sad.)
Put the basil in a food processor and add the remaining ingredients. Process until completely smooth. Season with more salt and pepper to taste, if necessary.
From Simply Recipes we learn that we can substitute baby spinach for up to half of the basil leaves with only a little loss of basil flavor. The amount of cheese ranges between ½ and ¾ cup. Natasha’s Kitchen uses only Parmesan; Simply Recipes calls for “freshly grated” Romano or Parmesan. Both indicate using extra virgin olive oil; I believe it would be best to stick with olive oil here. Both websites suggest that chopped walnuts can sub for the pine nuts, and somewhere between 1/3 and ½ cup of nuts. Don’t forget the garlic, between 2 and 3 cloves, minced. Natasha’s Kitchen also lists lemon juice among the ingredients, but as Simply Recipes does not, it appears the lemon juice is a more optional ingredient. Of course, freshly ground pepper is going to taste better, but sometimes we just don’t have the time to do it. Previously ground black pepper will work just fine.
Use your pesto sauce over pasta, as a sandwich spread, as a pizza sauce, in a filling with chicken for pinwheel sandwiches, or thinned with a little oil and vinegar for a salad dressing.
Family reviews: We tried both of these recipes.
Links to related posts:
Love pesto on pasta with a splash of heavy cream. I add a handful of Italian parsley with the basil for a bright herbal note and greener color. We use toasted pecans instead of pine nuts. I have not been able to find pine nuts that are not from China, we avoid those. Pesto freezes well, I use those little condiment cups in a zip freezer bag so I always have some. Thanks for the recipe.
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