So – I pretty much only eat pesto based meals these days… But that is what happens when the tomatoes are ripe and the basil is plentiful. A few weeks ago I bought a giant pot of basil from Aubuchon for $7. Since then I’ve been swimming in basil. I can make two batches without barely making a dent.
Saturday – Cod with basil mint pesto
Sunday – no pesto
Monday – parmesan seared cod with zucchini pesto
Tuesday – bfast sandwich
Wed – bfast sandwich
Thurs – no pesto. it’s a miracle
Friday – lunch and dinner
Saturday – lunch and dinner
After several different iterations of pesto based meals, I came upon this combination during a work from home day lunch. It is one of those meals, that make you say talk to yourself about how good it is. I know because I did just that. I think I proceeded to remake this meal about three more times. It is a pure home run of knockout flavors and textures and summer. Here are some notes:
- Pasta // While I’m not one to avoid gluten regularly, I did use gluten free pasta here. It is by no means the same as fresh pasta… but it is not that far off from regular boxed pasta… and a million times more enjoyable than whole wheat pasta. You can just keep that to yourself.
- Pesto // I’ve been known to make shortcuts on traditional pesto purely because I’ll just forget ingredients. When I made these two fish dishes, I casually forgot the nuts and the lemon juice – both are pretty important if you are trying to be traditional. In this case, I stuck to the standard I first made back in 2012.
- Tomatoes // I’m normally very generous with my tomatoes… but it’ll be hard to get me to give away any of these beautiful black cherries. They are so amazing. I can’t get enough of them.
- Burrata // I believe nearly all meals would be made better by burrata. It was pretty disappointing to realize what a serving size of buratta is… I think they want you to share one ball between four people? Ludicrous. In this case, it makes sense to just use a half ball for one person. You could do less if you are trying to be healthy or something like that.
- Plating decor // After plating the main ingredients (pasta, tomatoes, burrata), I sprinkled a bit of basil and lemon zest over the top along with a bit of Himalayan pink salt.
- Using a food processor, prep and make your pesto. Follow this recipe here. I used walnuts for this pesto.
- Cook your pasta to your preferred tenderness. I like it a little al dente for summer salads like this. Toss the cooked and drained pasta in a few tablespoons of pesto (per person). No rules here, if you want more pesto, just do it.
- Plate the pasta with some freshly cut garden tomatoes and a half ball of burrata.
- Drizzle the plate with a bit of olive oil and sprinkle with basil, lemon zest, and a bit of salt.
Shopping List
basil
grated parmesan
garlic
lemon
lemon juice
walnuts
burrata
cherry tomatoes
pasta of your choice