I’ve been trying to be very conscious about food waste, considering that most Americans throw out 25% of the food they buy. Not a good statistic.
A few days ago, I asked my husband to pick up a couple bunches of parsley while he was at the store so I could make a fresh batch of tabouli. When I checked the fridge a couple of days later, I didn’t see any parsley in the spot where we normally keep it, so I picked some up at the store then next day. Then we got busy and were out of the house for a few days and I forgot about my tabouli plans.
This morning, I found the parsley my husband bought (in the fruit drawer), and it was looking pretty ragged. I was almost going to toss it and use the fresher parsley I bought. Until I realized that I didn’t buy parsley at all – it was cilantro!
So much for making tabouli. But I wasn’t going to throw out the parsley and decided to turn it into pesto. So glad I did – this stuff is amazing! It tastes just as good — no, BETTER — than it looks. Make a big batch and be selfish indulgent and eat it all yourself!
Now I need to figure out what to do with that boat-load of cilantro….
Ingredient (serves about 8)
1 pound pasta (I used Trader Joe’s gluten-free Brown Rice/Quinoa pasta – love it!)
1 pint cherry tomatoes (cut in half length-wise)
10 ounces cremini mushrooms (sliced)
3 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
Pesto Ingredients
3 cups parsley (roughly chopped – about 2 medium-sized bunches)
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese
½ cup pistachios
½ cup pine nuts (or use all pistachios or all pine nuts, as you prefer)
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
½ teaspoon salt
Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the sliced tomatoes in a small mixing bowl. Drizzle 1 teaspoon of oil over the top, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ground pepper. Use your hands to mix thoroughly until the oil, salt and pepper is evenly distributed. Place the tomatoes in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
3. Place the sliced mushrooms in a small mixing bowl. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of oil over the top, along with ¼ teaspoon of salt and ground pepper. Use your hands to mix thoroughly until the oil, pepper and salt is evenly distributed. Place the mushrooms in a single layer on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
4. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes.
5. Place all of the pesto ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
6. Cook pasta per package instructions.
7. When pasta is cooked, reserve about 1 cup of cooking liquid. Drain the excess water. Return the pasta to the cooking pan and lightly drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and 1 – 2 tablespoons of reserved cooking liquid. Mix well to prevent pasta from sticking together.
8. Add all of the pesto to the pasta and mix until pasta is evenly coated with pesto.
9. Add the roasted tomatoes and mushrooms to the pasta and mix well.
10. Serve hot immediately.
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