Monday, June 11, 2012

Parsley, Brussels Sprouts & Feta Pesto with Broccolini Pasta

Warning: Photo taken by iPhone.


In the true spirit of this blog I give you Parsley, Brussels Sprouts & Feta Pesto with Broccolini Pasta . Why? Because I fucked up. I didn't intend to make this dish. Who would think of something so ridiculous?

I fully intended to add the brussels sprouts to the pasta water for the last three minutes of the pasta cooking process but I changed my mind. As I was cooking half of the pine nuts in some olive oil, I thought, 'why not chuck the brussels in there?' caramalise them a little? So I did just that. But THEN I realised that I hadn't washed the sprouts. And me being me... I wasn't entirely happy with that so I pulled them out and quickly rinsed them and threw them into the pasta water anyway for four minutes. But THEN they looked so waterlogged and pathetic I threw them back into the pine nuts pan to get rid of the excess liquid. I added some feta to make it a little creamy and added some white wine too. The sprouts still looked pale and limp so I added some to the parsley pesto I had already prepared. It tasted good so I added more. It tasted better so I added the rest. Oh My God. Some kind of alchemical magic took place... voila - a delicious pesto. With no bitterness. I don't have that brussels loathing gene that some others seem to have... the pesto tastes light, frothy and damned fine. So this happy accident had to go onto the blog. And with it, the resurrection of this blog.

INGREDIENTS:
1 bunch of parsley (italian flat leaf), chop it
feta cheese (about half a cup), break it
1/2 cup pine nuts, toast em, add half, keep half whole for later
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 big clove of garlic, chop it
a little pasta water
12 brussels sprouts (or so?), quartered, boiled for 3 mins, then pan fried
1/2 a cup of white wine
zest of one lemon


INSTRUCTIONS:
Blend.

Add some other veggies to the pasta water during the last three minutes. Anything green - broccoli, peas or broad beans. I added broccolini.

This recipe is very forgiving. My amounts are very vague. Seriously vague. Don't be so uptight about the amounts... it's just pesto... pesto doesn't care, neither should you.