Ricotta/Yogurt Pesto & Spaghetti w/Potatoes & Green Beans
Not to bore you all, but here is my update on "moving" my blog. First, I need to thank Nami's husband for giving me some great pointers...thanks Shen!! Even after waiting a week for my new domain to kick in at Wordpress, nothing happened! So, I registered at GoDaddy a new name and that kicked in immediately! The day after that I finally heard from Wordpress and the good thing was that they refunded my money :o) Then they accused me of registering elsewhere and that's why they couldn't register my domain, ha!, I told them that the reason I registered somewhere else is because they didn't do anything for over a week!! For now, I'm going to stay put here at blogspot and go slowly and decide where my new "home" will be. I also looked into TypePad and will look into Yahoo Small Business. I may just stay with Blogger, but just use my .com name with it. I know some of my terms may be wrong, I thought I had things to learn about blogging, but moving my blog is even harder...I have so much more to learn, my head is spinning...lol
On to the food :o) I don't really like pesto and I never really have. I like Basil, Pine Nuts, Parm Cheese, Olive Oil & Garlic...all the components to the pesto, but for some reason I don't really like it all combined. Hubby has always asked me why I don't like it and maybe I should try making it. I did try making it years ago and thought it was just okay. A girlfriend of mine recently gave me a beautiful basil plant (thanks Kris!!) and so I thought it was time again to try to make pesto.
I'd been contemplating making pesto for about a month and then I saw an episode of Tyler Florence's Tyler's Ultimate show where they featured a Pesto dish. It was actually a Lasagna show and featured a man that had a Basil farm and he made Lasagna Pesto out of it. What intrigued me was that he put both ricotta & yogurt into the Pesto to make it creamier and then he layered his no-bake lasagna w/the pesto, potatoes & green beans. I thought it would be easier to make spaghetti out of it;o)
My Beautiful Basil Plant
It got a little leggy, I should have cut it back some, but lately I've been VERY lazy with plants, I usually kill them by not watering them...lol At least I did water my basil and it is still thriving;o)
"Toasting" the Pine Nuts
I read that toasting the pine nuts would give it a nice roasted flavor to it.
My Beautiful New Red Le Creuset Mortar & Pestle
In the Lasagna Pesto episode it said how much pesto would taste better if you made it in a mortar and pestle. Since my old one broke years ago I decided to get a new one, I love red and I love Le Creuset, so that's how I picked this one. Well, it turns out either this one is too small or I just don't have the strength to crush the basil because I gave up making the Pesto in the Mortar and instead used my Immersion Blender to mix everything up...lol After mixing up the base, I put it back into the mortar to finish it off.
The order would have been: Crush Garlic & Salt; Pound/Crush Basil; Crush Pine Nuts then add Olive Oil & Pepper
The picture is with all the above ingredients blended together...
Adding Parmesan
Adding Greek Yogurt & Ricotta Cheese
Garnished w/Pecorino Romano, Green Beans, Fingerling Potatoes & Pine Nuts
I blanched the Green Beans and Boiled the Fingerling Potatoes and cut them into strips and then tossed it with the spaghetti & pesto with a little of the pasta water. I added Romano Cheese for saltiness and whole Pine Nuts for extra nuttiness.
The final verdict about Pesto...this one was better than most that I have tasted, but I'm still not a fan. I also didn't really care for the potatoes in it, too starchy. I still can't pinpoint why I don't like it. Good thing was that Hubby loved it :o)
