Friday, June 4, 2010

A Non-Recipe for Non-Pesto

Summer is soooo here. My favorite thing about summer is that the sun wakes up before I do, and we have a lovely cup of coffee on the porch swing while the day is still peaceful and cool. Nothing beats a few minutes of solitude before the world, and the kids, wake up. Just me and the sun.

Last week was the first of the truly sunny, hazy, heat filled days. I was still using nature's air conditioning. You know, open the windows all night to catch the cool air, close up tight before the heat of the day sneaks in. Even at that we were sitting at a toasty 87 in the house by dinner time.

Who wants to cook in that? Not me. We had a lot of low fuss meals last week. It was my first time making pesto pasta, sans pine nuts. Just cook the pasta, the sauce requires no cooking. Light, fresh, good hot or cold, and no oven required. That is a very good thing.

Of course, the only things I measured were the basil and the garlic, as they came in neat little packages. The rest are estimates. Thus, it is more of an idea than an actual recipe.

Pasta Pesto Sauce

1 herb container of fresh basil (the little plastic box in the store, about 1 oz)
2-4 Tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic (It was a small clove)
2 tsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 cup fresh baby spinach

Put basil, garlic, nutritional yeast and spinach into your food processor. Drizzle olive oil over top. Process until finely chopped but not quite long enough to make a paste. Add more olive oil if you need it. Add to warm or cold pasta and toss to coat. Light, fresh, and super easy. Perfect for summer.

This recipe is naturally free of: dairy, egg, nuts, and soy. With care it can be free of gluten, wheat, and the top 8. If you avoid garlic, substitute in your favorite spice to lend a bit of extra flavor.