Cilantro Pesto

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When summer hands you so many herbs that you can’t keep up, you make tons of pesto and freeze it in ice cube trays for later use.  You can make pesto out of any herb, and it’s an awesome way to add flavor, nutrients, and uncooked olive oil to your life.  It can also act as a marinade!
I don’t follow rules or measurements so I apologize in advance.  However, I think it’s good to point out that delicious food can come from mistakes, random stuff thrown together, or a fluke craving.  Follow your heart.  It never stears you wrong!
Cilantro Pesto
Ingredients:
2 cups of cilantro leaves
2 garlic cloves
1/4 cup walnuts
salt and pepper
juice from half a lemon
EVOO
Directions:
In a food processor, pulse the cilantro, garlic, nuts, salt and pepper, and lemon juice until broken down.  Slowly drizzle in the EVOO until the mixture becomes the consistency of a soft spread.  You can then use it, put in the fridge to eat in the next week or two, or freeze it in ice cube trays to use later.
Place this on grilled meat, add to tacos, marinade shrimp, ANYTHING that you want a punch of flavor!

Prosciutto-wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts

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I use the trick of stuffing chicken breast with pesto ALL THE TIME.  I do this for 2 reasons: 1. It keeps the meat moist. 2.  Pesto is something I have sitting around all the time because of having so many herbs throughout the summer.  It adds flavor and makes it seem like you spent all day in the kitchen. I even use it from the frozen pesto cubes I make.  It makes it seem like tons of work went into something, when it sure as heck did not! I decided to use up some prosciutto I had in the fridge, too but this could easily be left off or you could sub bacon.  While this was roasting, I threw some onions and fennel with a few cherry tomatoes on a baking sheet to roast on another rack as a side dish.
Proscuitto-wrapped Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients:
2 lbs chicken breasts, skinless, boneless
4 Tbsp pesto (you could use cilantro pesto just as easily!)
4 sheets of proscuitto
salt and pepper
Directions:
Peheat oven to 350F and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.(picture instructions below)  Lay out 4 chicken breasts on the paper and create a small pocket by using your knife to separate the breast so it opens like a book but not completely cut in half.  Once all those pockets are created, wash your hands and salt and pepper your breasts.  Then using one hand, open the pocket, while using the other to scoop your pesto inside.  Once you are done with the pesto, you can use both hands to squish it further into the pocket to make sure you get good coverage.  You want most bites to have some pesto in it!  (kind of like a cream filled donut).  Then wrap a sheet of prosciutto around every breast and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the breasts are cooked through.
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Garlic Scapes

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I just got word that our first week of the CSA will have garlic scapes! I remember LOVING this recipe when I got them a couple years ago, so I am reposting it for everyone that doesn’t know what to do with them. ;)

Cilantro & Garlic Scape Pesto

  • 1 bunch of cilantro, ends removed
  • 2 garlic scapes
  • handful of chives (or garlic clove or more scapes)
  • 2 handfuls of walnuts
  • 1/4 cup olive oil (or more depending on how creamy you want it)
  • 2 pinches of salt
  • pepper to taste
  • few good shakes of crushed red pepper flakes (these happened to be homemade from last year’s dried chili’s)

Directions:

Put the cilantro, garlic scapes, chives, walnuts in the food processor and pulse until they are a coarse meal. Put in the salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and run a stream of olive oil in while its processing until you get a chunky/creamy texture. Serve on top of any meat, mushroom caps, eggs, etc.

Pesto is so versatile and easy to freeze. It helps dress up any boring meat easily. I chose to grilled up some grassfed flank steak and serve pesto on top. I put it on top of the salad blend I got from the CSA. Absolutely fabulous. This is what I love about the CSA. I didn’t know what a garlic scape was and I had definitely never cooked with them. Forced me out of my comfort zone and now I know just how much I like them! I hope we get more next week because I have thought up a million more way to use them!!!

Pesto and Caramelized Onion Pizza

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I have posted a pizza recipe before with a different crust.  All crust that is grain-free has a different texture.  So, in my opinion, you are just searching for the most desirable characteristic for your taste.  If you like it thin, crispy, with a slight chew, then this may be your crust.  I don’t make pizza often, but if you do, then here’s my recommendation, find 4 different recipes and every Friday night for a month, make a new one and find out which one your family likes best!  I will say this one is nice because you can pick it up and eat it just like pizza, and not all grain-free options can say that.

I did not want to leave the house, and that forced me to look through what I had.  I settled on basil pesto as the sauce because I had that in the freezer from summer.  I also had three onions and couldn’t resist caramelizing them as my topping addition.  That’s it.  No cheese, no meat, and I didn’t miss them either.  You could easily use whatever topping you’d like though, so play with them!

Pizza Crust (adapted from Ancestral Table)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups tapioca flour
  • 1/4 cup canned coconut milk
  • 2 Tbsp grassfed butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • pinch of white pepper
  • 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500F. On the stovetop, over medium-low heat add the coconut milk, butter, and salt.  Stir to combine and let it heat until it just starts to boil.  Add the mixture into a bowl with the tapioca starch.  Mix in the oregano and white pepper.  Let rest for a few minutes to lower the temp of the mixture.  Then add the egg.  Use your hands to knead the dough together.  If it is glue-like, sticky and runny, add more tapioca flour until it forms a workable dough.  Place half the dough on a cast iron skillet, pizza stone, or baking sheet and spread it thin with your finger tips.  Bake in the oven for 8 minutes.  Get the pizza out, add the toppings and bake for another 10 minutes.

 

Chicken Basil Pesto

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It’s time to sign up for the CSA again! Whenever I get that form in the mail, I always have a Christmas moment thinking about all the stuff I still have in the freezer! Then it’s a rush to use it all before I start getting my fresh produce again. Basil pesto is one of those things that you just have to do in the summer and freeze. Fresh basil is way too expensive in the store and you barely get any! However, you can’t keep up with it in the summer! So, I freeze mine into pesto ice cubes so that I can use one for a single dish over lunch or I can thaw out a few to make an entire dinner. I made a spaghetti squash and has leftover chicken from a whole chicken the other night. Top that with some pesto and it’s like you slaved away when really, it’s all basically leftovers! When I opened the container of pesto cubes I literally smelled summer. 2014 must’ve had some dynamite basil! I still have tomato sauce, blueberries, applesauce, several kinds of soup, and several herb blends in the freezer, too! I told you it felt like Christmas! That’s what happens with a chest freezer. All that deer meat covers up your summer bounty for a few months!
I will be doing my weekly recipes again corresponding to my basket of produce from the CSA. So, if you want to have healthy, cheap veggies and someone coaching you through how to use them, jump on the Rise Up Farms bandwagon. 22 weeks of local, organic, vibe ripened produce. What more could you ask for?! A half share is $310 which is $14/week.