Pestos - Classic and Walnut Pesto

Pesto - Classic and Walnut Pesto

I love pesto, the smell of basil makes my mouth water, but most of all the sweet basil, Ocimum basilicum, which I only find as plants here in California. The basil you find in bunches at the grocery stores does not taste the same.

My love affair with pesto, started when my fellow student invited me home for dinner, when we were writing on our project for the Bachelor's degree. She had made Pasta with pesto with a insalata caprese. I was hooked, I could live on that, it was the best thing ever. Maybe not the most healthy dish in large quantities, but ohhhhh soooooo yummy!

I use pesto for more than pasta. It’s really tasty on roast beef, a turkey breast topped with prosciutto, on vegetables and potatoes, the options are, almost, endless.

Classic Pesto:

Ingredients:

• 2 large handful basil leaves
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons roasted pine nuts
• 2 tablespoons Parmigiano-Reggiano
• extra virgin olive oil, just enough to get a paste-like consistency 
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add more oil a little at a time and process until fully incorporated and you have smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy

Walnut Pesto

Ingredients:

• 100 g walnuts
• 75 g Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 lemon, zest of
• 2 cloves garlic
• extra virgin olive oil, just enough to get a thick paste-like consistency 
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until coarsely chopped. Add more oil a little at a time and process until fully incorporated, and you have thick paste. Season with salt and pepper. 

Enjoy.

Guacamole

Guacamole - The perfect snack.

I have a love for avocados, and guacamole especially. The green velvety dips is to die for.

I have tried many different recipes, but this one from Curtis Stone is the best I've tried yet. I will keep looking for perfection, but this is really really close.

Ingredients

• 3 firm but ripe hass avocados, halved, pitted, peeled, and cut into ½ inch pieces
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• ½ jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• ¼ teaspoon ground cumin
• salt

Directions

In a large bowl, gently fold the avocados, cilantro, lime juice, jalapenos, garlic, and cumin together. Season to taste with salt.

Curry Salad - Karrysalat

Curry Salad on pickled herring

Curry Salad is another traditional side for the Danish open faced sandwiches. Danes like fish, danes like pickled herring, but danes, for the most part, don't know how to make pickled herring, and this includes me. But I know how to make the curry salad to go with the herring, and it's so yummy. 

In Denmark you can buy pickled herring in a curry sauce, but sometimes homemade is better, And when you can't figure out how to pickle the herring, you can always make the curry sauce or salad, to get the homemade feeling at your lunch.

At my family's christmas luncheons the seafood part was the most important, we all loved pickled herring, smoked Salmon and fried fish fillets. Normally a danish christmas luncheons is a feast on all thing pork, but fish is a plays a big part too. 

Ingredients:

• 2 pickled cucumbers/gherkins (you can use 5 small cornichons)

• 3 eggs, hardboiled

• 175 g mayonnaise

• ½ cup (1 dl) sour cream

• 3-5 teaspoons curry powder (I use madras curry)

• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire Sauce (Lea & Perrins)

• a splash HP sauce

• ½ teaspoon turmeric

• salt & pepper to taste.

Directions:

Mix mayonnaise, sour cream, curry powder, Worcestershire sauce, HP sauce and turmeric. Dice the cucumber/gherkins and the hardboiled eggs in small pieces, fold it into the sauce. season with curry, salt and pepper.

Refrigerate the curry salad for an hour or so for the favors to blend better. This salad will keep for 5-6 days in the refrigerator. 

You can add diced apples for a sweeter taste, or diced red onions for a sharper taste.