Cheap Healthy Food: pasta salad

See, now what you have to do... (4.00 / 4)

Is pass out samples, Youff!

:)

Never been much of a pesto fan, but that may be just because I've never tried to make it myself.  Maybe gotta do that one day.  I may have just had bad experiences with it in the past, but I tend to avoid pesto anywhere I see / find it.  Or maybe it's just a taste thing?  I can't really think of anything I like basil in, personally... not even with tomato and mozzarella!  Maybe I'm just weird, heh.

As for pasta salad variations, hmm.  Feta, olive oil and spinach in place of the pesto... and maybe chopped raw bell pepper?  Cucumber?  I'm feeling nice and cool just thinking about that!  But that's kinda taking this recipe way off in another direction, isn't it?

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 07:15:33 AM UTC

heh...TOTALLY another direction (4.00 / 4)

Do you like basil?  If you don't like basil, there's your problem: although the Martha Stewart media site where I searched for the pesto recipe I used to use includes such sacrilegious variations as pesto made with spinach & walnuts.  And I doubt you hate spinach and walnuts.

When I lived on 9th Ave. in NYC, there was an old Italian place that made their own pesto...pricey as hell, but well worth it.

But you have to love basil.

IIRC, there are even versions involving parsley.  Perish the thought!

Jay:  I outlined the basic ingredients in my diary.  Replace basil with something you like better...replace pine nuts with something you like better...retain the parmesan (or romano) and the olive oil...follow basic pesto proportions of ingredients and techniques (i.e. the food processor recipes: mortar & pestle may be traditional but it's too much work) and adjust your recipe according to taste.

There is no "wrong" here.  ;-D

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 07:41:01 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ever try cilantro pesto? (4.00 / 3)

There's a pizza place* here that does a seasonal pie with cilantro pesto (and one with basil pesto, too), but I don't really like either of them.  Don't necessarily dislike them either, though.  Can't really explain it, lol.  I don't know.  Maybe it's just something with the process it involves to make any kind of pesto that rubs me wrong somehow?  Ain't the parmesan, that's for sure!  I love that stuff...

I'm probably just weird, is what it is. :)

...................

*I call it a 'pizza place, rather than a pizzeria, because as good as it is it still doesn't qualify for the blessed 'pizzeria' moniker.  Since you've lived in NYC before, you probably understand what I mean.  This Newarker / New Jerseyan pizza snob has a very strict view / strong opinion of what separates a pizzeria from just a 'pizza place', even if said 'pizza place' is very good, as many are around here.  Still, I've yet to find one here in Portland that actually qualifies as a "pizzeria".  :)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 08:15:39 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Ah. I'm not sure, Jay, just what (4.00 / 3)

your qualifications are for pizzeria versus pizza place.  On 9th Ave. near 44th St. there was a "pizza place" that did a pie with pesto sauce, artichoke hearts, fresh tomato slices & I forget what all else...it was like a salad on a slice of bread & back in the day, when their pizza guy was excellent, it was the best slice I've ever eaten.

Where I live now, pizza mostly sucks.  Domino's & Pizza Hut probably have 90% of the market.  But there's an independent joint a block from where I work that does an excellent thin-crust pie; and there's another place, in the middle of town, where, although I haven't yet had their pizza, I would say has the best stromboli in town.

The pizza joint on the corner where I live?  They do an excellent gyro sandwich.  Don't eat the pizza: it sux.  Big-time.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 08:33:34 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

It's in the heart. :) (4.00 / 3)

The difference is just something you feel.  Most places just = 'stuff on cooked dough', even though it very well may be excellent food, by any other name.  

But real pizza, to me, is kinda like what Justice Potter Stewart said in his opinion in the Jacobellis v. Ohio Supreme Court decision - "I know it when I see it" (and) taste it...

:)

"The essence of the independent mind lies not in what it thinks, but in how it thinks." - Christopher Hitchens

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by: JayinPortland @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 09:21:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

P.S.: No (4.00 / 3)

I love cilantro, but can't even imagine it turned into pesto.  It's too strong: it would be like eating pesto made from Thai basil instead of Italian basil.

Maybe you should try Googling Martha Stewart's media website and attempt a parsley or spinach basil: both are much milder herbs.

I LOVE pesto.  But I don't think you're weird if you don't: the flavor can be very strong.  Remember, in my recipe, a 10-oz. jar of the stuff adequately covered a lb. of fusilli plus a rather large head of cauliflower.  And would have also sufficiently coated a few more ingredients.

I made this recipe up: no copyrights were harmed in the posting of it.  But I admit I was amazed that I didn't need more pesto than one small jar.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 08:46:44 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

I LOVE coriander pesto.. (4.00 / 4)

I mix it with lime and lime rind...and use pumpkin seeds instead of pine nuts..

Jay...I make pesto out of all kinds of fresh herbs..oregano and lemon, mint and lemon balm...

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by: LeeN @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 14:26:15 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Parsley pesto? (4.00 / 3)

Hard to imagine such a thing. But then I'm not even a big fan of tabbouleh, which is a chopped parsley salad. Some parsley, OK; parsley as a main ingredient, not so much.

I have succumbed to the Twitter craze. @Omir55

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by: Omir the Storyteller @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 17:28:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

Tacconellis here in Phiily.. (4.00 / 4)

brick oven..They only make Pizza..They don't even have a frigging menu...
oh it's heaven...

and speaking of pizza...Jill is coming here Thurs with 2 friends and one of them is on a gluten free diet.. i am going to make chick pea pizza..

I thinks Bobs Redmill should start paying me to be an evangelist...

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by: LeeN @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 19:17:32 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

was that old Italian place around 39Th and 9th?? (4.00 / 4)

if so I know the place..

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by: LeeN @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 14:23:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

44th & 9th... (4.00 / 3)

although there used to be a bakery around 40th & 9th, across from the Port Authority, that had excellent bread at reasonable prices.  I was heartbroken when the family closed it.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 16:26:18 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

plz (4.00 / 2)

check your mail
gimme 5 minutes tho!

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 18:35:31 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

My sister lives (4.00 / 3)

on 38th right off of 9th. The corner has that Italian butcher that has been there forever...

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by: LeeN @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 19:19:14 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

I LOVE that butcher. (4.00 / 2)

I love their homemade Italian sausages.  I love their lamb chops, their prosciutto...well, I love everything about that place.

True story from the mid-1990s:  Saturday morning, snow falling (probably four inches already & still coming down).  Chez Youff needs food, though.  Go to the "Amish farmer's market" at 41st & 9th for veggies: no line.  Go to the Greek importer for spices & cheese: no line.

Go to the Italian butcher at 38th & 9th: 20-minute line.  People were buying pounds & pounds of meat as though they would be snowed in for weeks.  Considering that there were hardly any cars on 9th Ave. besides a few brave cabbies, one would think these were walking-distance shoppers...but there you go.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 06:09:29 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

apparently you aren't the only one (4.00 / 3)

that loves that butcher.. People who move out of the neighborhood come back
to buy meat. And Christmas time its packed!!!

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by: LeeN @ Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 12:30:07 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

That butcher (4.00 / 1)

is a huge asset to the neighborhood.  And they'll cut to your specs.  And they make their own sausage (I know I said that before but it's really good and they make at least four different kinds).

I lived near 41st & 9th for 15 of my 20 years in NYC, and that butcher was my favorite for everything except duck or goose (which they only had frozen...I went to Balducci's to buy fresh ones).

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Wed Aug 05, 2009 at 09:06:10 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

hippie pesto (4.00 / 3)

the pesto i've made had half basil half spinach because my basil didn't get big enough. no pine nuts because i couldn't find them anywhere. i used pecans. it was the best pesto ever!

pasta salad... i like finely chopped tomatos, some diced pimentos, finely chopped celery, a bit of pesto & a bit of italian dressing. O & of course green cheese(parmesan)
& sprinkled with nutritional yeast.

come firefly-dreaming with me....

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by: RiaD @ Mon Aug 03, 2009 at 13:01:58 PM UTC

Ria, I've never thought of (4.00 / 2)

pecans for pesto (sounds wonderful), but lots of variations do use walnuts.  If you're bored sometime -- if it's a rainy yucky day & you want a break from the blogs, for example -- you should just Google Martha Stewart, go to the website & search pesto recipes.  It's not that there are a gazillion of them, but it certainly seemed that way when all I wanted was to find the one I used to use.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 06:19:54 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

PS: your basil didn't get big enough? (4.00 / 2)

Basil should love SC, I think.  (Well, maybe too much rain this year, but in general...)  Just keep dead-heading it so it sends out more branches...and avoid the huge leaves b/c they tend to get a very strong flavor that's not entirely pleasant.  My biggest problem was Japanese beetles; and once the wheelbug or preying mantis moved in, my plants were fine.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

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by: Youffraita @ Tue Aug 04, 2009 at 06:27:09 AM UTC

[ Parent ]