I made this salad a few weeks ago to take to a friends 4th of July barbeque (I’m really late, I know). I love basil, it is so tasty. I’ve got three plants growing in my back yard and I have more than I know what to do with!
I’ve always wanted to make my own pesto, and now I finally have enough fresh basil to do so! The recipe consists of a creamy buttermilk based dressing with garlic and pesto, mixed with noodles, fresh veggies and real mozzarella cheese chunks. Its really easy and really tasty.
I came up with this recipe by taking bits and pieces from all over the internet, and mixing in some of my own tastes! It has quite a few steps, but that’s only because I made my own pesto, but its relatively simple.
Ingredients
Dressing:
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1/3 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoons rice vinegar
Pesto:
(or use 1 cup pre-made jarred pesto)
(this part is from simply recipes)
2 cups fresh basil leaves, packed
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan-Reggiano or Romano cheese
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup pine nuts or chopped walnuts
3 medium sized garlic cloves, minced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Salad:
1 cup grape or cherry tomatoes, halved
1 cup green beans
1 cup chopped zucchini (about one squash)
(if you prefer different veggies, use whatever you want!)
1/2 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese
1 big ball of fresh mozzarella, cubed (or a bunch of the little balls, shredded if that’s all you’ve got!)
16 oz your choices of pasta (I used fusilli, but was seriously contemplating some bowtie)
Boil the pasta according to the box directions, drain, and allow to cool.
Mix together the buttermilk, sour cream, mayonnaise and garlic, set aside to let those flavors meld.
Prepare the pesto.
Combine the basil in with the pine nuts, pulse a few times in a food processor. Add the garlic, pulse a few times more.
Slowly add the olive oil in a constant stream while the food processor is on. Stop to scrape down the sides of the food processor with a rubber spatula. Add the grated cheese and pulse again until blended. Add a pinch of salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
Set aside.
If you don’t like crispy veggies, lightly steam the zucchini and green beans. Don’t let them turn to mush though, it’ll just make the salad a mess
Toss together the pasta, and other salad ingredients, reserving a handful of Parmesan, mozzarella and tomatoes to top the salad.
Just before serving mix together everything but the reserved ingredients. Top the salad with the reserved ingredients and a few whole basil leaves to make everything look pretty.
I’ve never had carbonara before tonight. I’d look at it on menus in restaurants or in recipe books and be like ew gross, bacon and pasta? Nasty man, nasty.
Ends up its really tasty. Not the healthiest thing, but damn tasty.
I came up with this recipe by going through a few cookbooks and websites and combining everything I think will be tasty together. That and I fine tuned it to what I had in my kitchen.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3-4 slices of bacon, diced
2 eggs
1/2 cup shredded parmesean
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/2 a box of fettuccine
water to cook the fettuccine
1 cup chopped broccoli
1/4 – 1/2 cup of boiling noodle water
Boil the noodles following the directions on the package. Approximately 5 minutes before the noodles are done, add the chopped broccoli.
Crush and finely chop the garlic. Add oil to a pan and lightly cook the garlic. Do not let it burn! It’ll be nasty if you do. Remove all the garlic you can (you don’t want it to burn while you’re cooking the bacon).
Add the bacon and cook until crispy. Drain reserving 1-2 tablespoons of bacon grease.
Whisk the eggs, cheese, herbs and pepper together. Slowly add the boiling noodle water, whisking as you do so that the eggs do not curdle. Add the bacon.
When the noodles are done cooking, drain and place in a large bowl. Pour over the warm egg mixture and toss immediately.
Reheat the pan with the bacon grease (if not still warm) and add the noodles and cook slightly until the egg mixture is thickened and everything is heated through.
The other night my roommate had a hankering for tuna casserole. I couldn’t bring myself to make a cream of whatever soup monstrosity, especially since we’re trying to eat less processed food.
I surfed the internet, and consulted casserole recipe books and came up with this tasty, mild flavored, creamy, cheesy, and sort of healthy recipe.
Ingredients:
12-16 oz of dried pasta (penne, farfarelle, macaroni, whatever you have)
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 tbsp flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peas
1 cup green beans
(or 3 cups total of mixed vegetables chopped into small pieces)
2 6-oz cans of tuna, drained
2 cups cheddar cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.
Cook the carrots slightly to soften them. Also cook the peas and/or the green beans if needed. They will cook a little bit, but if they are frozen or fresh, warm them up a little. (This is a good recipe for leftover vegetables.)
Melt the butter in the olive oil on low.
Cook the chopped onion in the butter/olive oil mix until soft and translucent.
Add the flour to the cooked onions and stir quickly. Stir the mixture until the flour has been coated and forms a paste on the onions.
Add 1/2 a cup of the chicken broth and stir thoroughly. It should be thick with no lumps but the onions. Slowly add the rest of the chicken broth, and the cup of cream, about 1/2 a cup at a time, stirring after each addition until combined.
When all the liquid has been added slowly add 1 cup of cheese, about 1/4 of a cup at a time. Stir the mixture until all of the cheese is melted before adding more.
Add a few spices like parsely and sage if you want to.
In a really big bowl, place the cooked pasta, vegetables, and tuna.
Pour the cream sauce over the whole thing and mix well.
Pour everything into an oven safe casserole dish. Mix together the remaining 1 cup of cheese and breadcrumbs, and sprinkle evelnly over the entire dish.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 10-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and everything is bubbly and hot.
The other day an internet friend who recently took a trip to New York City posted a link to a recipe for some macaroni and cheese she had at S’Mac.
I love mozzarella, especially fresh mozzarella. Before when I’ve tried to make macaroni and cheese using it, it left the foodstuffs chewy and lacking in tasty cheese flavor, not to mention overly stringy. This recipe uses muenster cheese to help smooth it out as well as starting with a simple bechamel sauce.
This recipe also includes basil, my most favorite herb ever. You can never have too much basil.
This tasty dish even got the thumbs up from my dad.
The original recipe is here. I increased ingredients and modified the order of instructions a bit because of the amount of cheese I had to buy, and why not make extra? You can never have too much mac and cheese (or basil)!
Here’s the recipe with my modifications:
2/3 lb elbow macaroni (yield: 4 cups cooked)
1 1/4 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, diced
3 oz Muenster cheese, shredded
3 oz Pecorino Romano cheese, shredded
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
dried basil leaves
2 plum tomatoes
Fresh basil leaves, cut into thin ribbons
1 garlic bulb
3/4 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
olive oil
Start with roasting the garlic and tomatoes.
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice the top of the garlic bulb off, exposing the tops of the garlic cloves. Brush the bulb with olive oil and wrap in aluminum foil.
Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise. Toss with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and dried basil. Place skin side down on a baking sheet covered in olive oil.
Roast the tomatoes for 25 minutes until the skin slides off, and the garlic 30 minutes until the cloves are soft and can be squeezed out of the skin.
While the garlic and tomatoes are roasting bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the macaroni to al dente, about 8-10 minutes. Drain and set aside in a large mixing bowl.
Slice the mozzarella into uniform sized cubes and shred the other cheeses if needed. Also slice the basil at this time and set aside.
Bring the milk to a boil (I used the microwave).
Melt the butter in a medium, heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. Lower the heat and whisk in the flour, cooking 3-4 minutes making sure the mixture doesn’t brown.
Slowly add the hot milk, whisking constantly.
Add the cheeses except for the 3/4 cups of parmesan, stirring frequently until the cheeses are melted and the sauce is slightly thickened. Season with salt and pepper.
Peel the skins off the cooled tomatoes and chop into 1/4 inch pieces. The garlic should be easily squeezed from the skin. It should be golden and translucent and smell oh-so-good. I chopped it a little as well since it was still pretty solid.
Turn off the heat and stir the tomatoes, basil and garlic into the cheese mixture.
Pour the cheese mixture over the macaroni and stir to thoroughly combine, pour into a baking dish.
Top with the 3/4 cups of parmesan and breadcrumbs.
Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown and tasty.
I topped it with some leftover sliced basil to make it look all pretty.
This is sort of like alfredo sauce, but not. Its really good and really creamy
1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp Dried Basil
2 tbsp Dried Parsley
1 tsp Garlic Powder or 1 garlic clove chopped
1/4 c Grated Parmesean Cheese
1/4 c Olive Oil
1/4 c Boiling Water
Melt the butter in a saucepan at low and add the basil and parsley, dont let the butter burn.
Cut the cream cheese into smaller chunks and add to the butter herb mix.
When the cream cheese begins to melt add the olive oil.
Then add the Parmesean cheese and garlic powder. You can adjust any of the herbs or parmesean cheese to your taste. (Although adding a large amount of parmesean cheese makes it a little stringy).
When everything is incorporated and beginning to come together (its ok if things are still lumpy and separated), add the boiling water. This is an important step, without it everything stays separated and is gross (I know this from expirience). Stir at low heat until everything is blended and creamy.
Serve over noodles of your choice.
While cooking or after refrigerating the sauce it may separate. If it separates during cooking you may have it too hot or too cold, adjust the temperature until it blends together again, dont worry. If it separates in the refridgerator, just warm the sauce again slowly stirring occasionally (like 10-15 seconds in the micro, stir, repeat) until blended together again.
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The other day an internet friend who recently took a trip to New York City posted a link to a recipe for some macaroni and cheese she had at 
