Kale Pesto

The Single Serving

So, now that Lent is over, I have been slowly trying to reintroduce myself to cheese. Last week, I saw some fresh kale at the market and decided to try a version of Kale Pesto. Pesto is the bomb and can be topped with any grated Italian cheese, which obviously appeals to me on several levels- also it's incredibly easy and delicious. Last week also happened to be one of the last holdouts of gloomy cold weather here so a dark sauce(?) like pesto, was the right fit.

Your Ingredients

Chop kale, nuts, and garlic

Remove Kale from boiling water

Blot the water off the leaves

Add all ingredients to blender

Blend like you mean it

Blend to your desired consistency

Et voila!

Save or Serve

I didn't save it, I ate it

Pesto sauce with Fusilli

Brussels Sprouts-Avocado-Lime Recipe: 

Ingredients-

   1/16 cup chopped pine nuts or walnuts
   1 ounces kale, trimmed, rinsed, and chopped
   1/8 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
   1/6 cup extra-virgin olive oil
   1 cloves garlic, chopped
   1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
   1/4 teaspoon salt
   pinch teaspoon pepper

How-To-
Toast nuts in a frying pan until they’re golden. This happens quite quickly, so make sure to watch for burning. Then chop the nuts and garlic. In the meantime, wash and dry the kale. Remove all the leaves from the stems and chop. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Have a bowl of cold water ready. Drop the chopped kale into the boiling water. When the water returns to a boil, swirl the kale around a few times until it becomes limp- will become a rich green color. Drain the kale and plunge it into the cold water. Drain again, then place on a clean dishtowel and blot away the moisture (soggy kale is not good). Place all of the ingredients in the blender. Purée until smooth. You may need to add more olive oil to reach desired consistency.

If not eating immediately, refrigerate by covering with plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pesto. Will stay fresh for up to 3 days. To freeze, place desired portions in small containers with plastic directly on the surface of the pesto, or place in plastic freezer bags. Freeze for up to two months.

Enjoy!

Thoughts- 
Don't eat on a first date (any dark greens really) but beyond that advice, I thought it was fantastic on my fusilli pasta. I had slightly more than I wanted to so I might use like one less leaf of kale next time.

Crab Toast with Lemon Aioli

    I tried this recipe because I love crab meat and I saw a really pretty picture of it on Pinterest, although no accompanying recipe was linked to the image. So I looked up how to make lemon aioli-to be perfectly honest, I didn't even know what aioli was- great simple recipe from Martha Stewart. Turns out, it's super easy to make and using ingredients that you likely have in your kitchen already. For the toast, I used a frozen slice that I had from my Homemade No-Knead Beer Bread which complimented the crab very well. I took this on the go and actually made the open-face sandwich when I took my lunch break from work. For the future, I wouldn't recommend taking it on the go, and prefer it for a breakfast or brunch situation, because the crab juice was a bit leaky. 

Simple Ingredients

Squeeze or chop garlic finely

Add all ingredients together

Mix Mix Mix

Add the aioli to the crab meat

Crab Toast with Lemon Aioli Recipe:

Ingredients-  
1/2 cup, mayonnaise
1 tsp, finely grated lemon zest
1 to 2 tbps, fresh lemon juice
1 clove garlic, minced
Coarse salt and ground pepper

How-To-

In a small bowl, add all of the ingredients at once. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Stir to combine.
 
Enjoy!

Thoughts:

I think that next time this would work better with fresh crab instead of the canned version that I purchased at Whole Foods. I was being frugal and didn't want to spring the $30 for fresh crab but I think now that it would have made a world of difference in taste. The aioli and toast were prefect to accompany the crab, but I just think that fresh crab would taste richer. I also had a bit of aioli sauce leftover because it was hard to determine what was enough/too much for one person having never made it before.

Easy Peezy Peanut Sauce

The Single Serving

Peanut Sauce- one of cooking's best kept secrets. The sauce takes less than 10 minutes to create and you can use it on any number of dishes. I actually discovered this recipe while I was in South Africa (not South African by nature, but when you don't have an oven or a stove top, you have to get crafty).

Table Mountain Conquered!

I use this whenever I am out of ideas and I have some noodles or pasta lying around. I do prefer it it with stringy types of noodles like udon or lo mein noodles. My dad just got me this nifty little cast iron sauce pot, so this was its maiden voyage.

The Ingredients

Press that garlic hard

looks murky

Add the peanut butter

It's melting!!

All mixed and ready to go

Peanut Sauce Recipe:

     Ingredients-

    1/3 cup or two big scoops with a soup spoon, peanut butter
    1 clove, garlic (pressed or chopped)
    2 tbs, lime juice
    2 1/2 tbs, soy sauce
    1/3 cup, water

How To-

Literally you just melt the ingredients together over a hot stove top. On medium high, mix all ingredients except PB into saucepan. When it gets to be more hot, add peanut butter (this is just so that the PB starts to melt immediately) and keep stirring periodically.  Within 5 minutes, all ingredients should be melted and you have a sauce!
Enjoy!

Thoughts:

I am actually getting hungry thinking about this sauce while I write this. It is super tasty and easy and goes with so many things.