Mia Cucina Su Cucina

With my last blog post, I closed with the following lines, “I inhale many exotic flavors. My senses go wild and I start imagining the different herb I want to go with my basket of treasures. Is it basil, thyme, dill, sage or lemongrass, lemon verbena, mint of many flavors, tarragon, spicy arugula, cilantro… It is so difficult to pick just a few, I just want to buy one of everything.”

Last Saturday I did. I got lemon verbena and made wonderful caramel, thyme, spicy arugula, and a bunch of different salad mixes. But I did one rather silly thing; I ended up with a bunch of cilantro. Like “what was I thinking” amount of cilantro.

I of course, did not realize this until I got home and unloaded all of my treasures. I used up everything I got in a dessert, salads and tea. But I still had all this cilantro and one bunch of Italian parsley sitting there. The boys and I were not really craving Mexican food and I just so dislike throwing out food.Dry it? Yuck, why bother?

I then remembered all the basil pesto I made a few weeks before and thought, “Why not make pesto?” I went to the kitchen and with a grind of this and a handful of that I ended up with the most amazing earthy, full bodied, make your tongue shiver with excitement cilantro pesto. Oh my! After my excitement waned a bit, I thought I must write this recipe down and share it with my readers.

Cilantro Pesto

3 ounces cilantro
2 ounces Italian parsley
A lean ½ cup of pecans, toasted
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
zest of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, peeled
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup of olive oil

Place all of the ingredients except the oil in the food processor and puree until smooth. Pour the oil in and process again until you get a loose consistence. You may need more oil depending on how thick you like your pesto. Taste and add additional salt if needed. This freezes nicely.

Now on to the next step, “What do I do with it?” I was thinking the same thing. I made tacos and stirred it in to the meat. I made enchiladas and add it to the filling for the tortillas and to the red sauce. I added more oil to it and made dressing for my taco salad. I stirred it in to steamed green beans and top it with toasted pecans. Any way the list could go on. As you add it to your cooking, I would love to hear back some more suggestions for this fabulous pesto.