P(r)ESTO

This recipe is so easy and fast...I feel guilty blogging about it. I really do. But it's one of my all time favorites. I was home alone last night watching the Colts destroy the Titans and threw this together and remembered why. This pesto is NOT green. I really don't like green pesto....which is most likely garlic basil pesto...which is OK, but not really my cup of tea. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love me some basil, but something about traditional pesto just leaves me uninspired. It always feels a little anticlimactic. But this pesto is sweet, tangy, sharp and mellow all at the same time and takes pesto into the red.

For those of you who don't believe that pesto can be red...know this...pesto means to pound or to crush. It most commonly refers to the crushing of the basil, parsley, and garlic with olive oil to make a sauce, but it generally refers to any sauce made from crushing...and most importantly...any sauce not cooked. So by that definition...you can put anything you want in a pesto. My home run combination is basil, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and Parmigiano Reggiano cheese. It's so good. Toss that with any type of tubular pasta and throw it down with a piece of garlic toast and I'm right back at the villa...

Sun Dried Tomato Pesto

1 jar (7-10 oz) of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil

1 bunch of fresh basil

1 C of grated Parmigiano Regiano cheese

2 cloves of garlic

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Add tomatoes with oil, basil leaves and garlic in a food processor and mix until well combined. Remove to a bowl and mix with grated cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toss with pasta. Top with additional grated cheese and basil leaf and serve.

That's it...really...just put it in a food processor and serve. A couple of quick notes. Add the cheese before you salt and pepper. Parmigiano can be a bit salty...so if you season first you run the risk of over salting. The oil the tomatoes come packed in should be plenty to combine into a nice sauce...but if need be you can add a little splash of your own. And finally...the full bunch of basil is going to look like a lot...but trust me it breaks down. So throw away your jarred sauces and replace them with jars of tomatoes. A quick pasta dinner just went from the ordinary to inspired...and from "what I got" to "what I want". I really can't stress enough how easy this is...and even more so...how flavorful. In my opinion...this is the closest you should ever come to sauce from a jar.

Mangia et statti zitto...

cheers...

dunkin