Recipe: Basil Pesto

Basil pesto...you see it in little glass jars at the grocery store, swirled into pasta at restaurants, and spread on sandwiches at lunch joints. It's a very simple mixture that can be whipped up in minutes using a food processor. It's so easy, in fact, you really should just make it yourself! Raw garlic, which has a spicy quality, and toasted pine nuts add a punch of flavor to the mix of fresh basil and parsley, while the olive oil and cheese help pull the mixture together into a delicious sauce and spread. Perfect in pasta, blended into butter or mayonnaise as a spread, spread on bread or a sandwich, or added to grilled chicken or fish—basil pesto is something everyone should know how to make.

Yields: Approx. 1/2 cup
Prep. time: 5 minutes
Assembly time (no cooking required): 5 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Food processor

Ingredients

• Approx. 2-4 oz. fresh basil leaves
• 1/4 cup fresh Italian flat-leaf parsley
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted (toast in oven for 2 minutes at 350*F)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1/4 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano and/or Pecorino Romano cheese
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Add all of the ingredients to the food processor and pulse to thoroughly blend. Use the mixture as a sauce or spread. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. 

This sauce is packed with flavor: "spicy" garlic, fresh basil and parsley, nutty and salty Italian cheeses, and toasted pine nuts all create a strong flavor that works well in all sorts of dishes. 

Recipe: Chicken with Spinach-Parsley Rice and a Lemon Cream Sauce

This dish is bursting with fresh, clean flavors—tart lemon, fresh baby spinach and flat-leaf parsley, creamy fontina cheese, and velvety cream. After days of cold weather, rain, and snow, we finally got a bit of a break today, and this dish, which I'd consider more of a spring or summer meal, was the perfect thing to highlight the little bit of warm weather we got today. Simple white rice gets a kick with the addition of a pesto-like mixture of baby spinach, Italian flat-leaf parsley, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil, and a handful of fontina cheese, and it pairs nicely with lightly seasoned chicken breasts and a delicate lemon cream sauce. Crisp, clean lemon flavor, from both the juice and zest of the fruit, is the highlighted flavor in the dish and really gives it a great pop of flavor—use the real thing, not the bottled stuff, because it'll taste so much nicer.

The sauce was served on the side

Serves: 4
Prep. time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: Approx. 30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Special equipment: Food processor

Ingredients

• 2 chicken breasts, cut in half, and pounded out to about 1/2-1 inch thickness
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• Dried lemon peel, to taste (not necessary, but it's great on the chicken)
• Olive oil (enough to coat the bottom of a pan)
• Butter or margarine (just a pat to add to the pan with the chicken)

For the rice

• Approx. 1 cup long grain white rice (makes about 3 cups cooked)
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• Juice from one lemon (about 3 tbsp.)
• 1/2 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 cup baby spinach (be sure to pack it down to fit in more)
• 1 cup flat-leaf Italian parsley (be sure to pack it down to fit in more)
• Approx. 5 oz. fontina cheese, grated
• Salt and pepper, to taste

For the lemon cream sauce

• 2 tbsp. dry white wine (cooking wine)
• 1/2 - 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup (1/2 pint) heavy cream
• White pepper and salt, to taste (the white pepper will ensure the sauce stays a nice, solid white color)

Directions
Cook the rice according to package instructions (for me, it's cooking rice in 1&3/4 cup salted water with a tbsp. butter)—this should take about 20 minutes. In the meantime, add the ingredients for the rice "pesto" (olive oil, lemon juice and zest, garlic, spinach, and parsley) to a food processor and pulse to blend. After it's well-blended, add the grated cheese and pulse to blend, then set aside. Season the chicken breasts with salt and pepper (I sprinkled mine with dried lemon peel too) on both sides. In a large pan, heat a little olive oil and butter over medium heat, then add the chicken and cook until done, turning occasionally to evenly brown it. While the chicken is cooking, heat the lemon juice, zest, and white wine for the sauce in a small pot over medium heat. After about 2 minutes over heat, gradually whisk the heavy cream into the mixture (do this very slowly). Season with salt and white pepper and reduce to low heat. The mixture will thicken to a certain degree, but it is naturally a thinner, more delicate sauce. When the rice is done, fluff it gently and pour the spinach and parsley mixture into it, then gently toss the rice to evenly coat it. Serve the rice alongside the chicken and drizzle the sauce over both. A sprinkling of Parmesan cheese works well with the dish.

This dish is full of lemony flavor, which really brightens it up and wakes up your senses. The light sauce adds flavor to the simply-seasoned chicken and it pairs well with the rice. A small baby spinach salad with a light dressing (and oil-and-vinegar dressing would be perfect) would go well with this, along with any sort of white wine.

Recipe: Penne with Beef and Arugula

"Mom! What are we having for dinner?"
"Chicken."
"Awwwww! Again?"
"Yes."

My mom's use of chicken in just about every dinner dish we had when I was a kid was an ongoing joke. Other than spaghetti and meatballs, a totally 90s "taco pie," and this awful beef and rice stuffed cabbage that she made, my mom's dishes typically involved chicken. Now, don't get me wrong, I love chicken (and my mom's meals). You can do just about anything with chicken—you can flavor it with an endless number of sauces and rubs, pair it with any side dish, and cook it in countless different ways—but it does get boring after a while. So tonight, I decided not to cook with chicken and pick another protein. I leafed through the pages of my Giada De Laurentiis Everyday Pasta cookbook and found a pasta dish that called for New York strip steaks, and that was just the kind of meal I was looking for.

Serves: 6-8
Prep. time: 10-15 minutes
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 2 New York strip steaks, about 8 oz. each
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 tsp. herbes de Provence
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (plus a few tablespoons to cook the steak in)
• 1 lb. penne pasta
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp. Dijon mustard (or spicy brown mustard)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 2 cups chopped arugula 

Directions
Season  both sides of the steaks with salt and pepper, minced garlic, and herbes de Provence. Heat about 3 tbsp. olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat (try to avoid non-stick skillets as they tend to not brown meat as well as regular skillets). Cook the steaks for 5-7 minutes per side (this will get you a nice medium pink inside). Remove the meat from the skillet and let it rest on a cutting board while you cook the pasta.
In the meantime, bring a pot of salted water to a boil, then add the pasta and cook until al dente, stirring occasionally (8-10 minutes). Drain the pasta, reserving 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid.
In a small bowl, whisk together the mustard, balsamic vinegar, 3/4 cup olive oil, basil, parsley, and about 1/2 tsp. each salt and pepper to make a sauce.
Toss the sauce and chopped arugula with the penne, and add the reserved cooking liquid. Slice the steaks thin and add the slices to the pasta, and toss to mix completely.

The sauce has a lot of kick to it and pairs perfectly with the steak (it would be great just drizzled on a salad too). The fresh herbs and arugula add a lightness to the dish and great color too, and I love the flavor of the herbes de Provence on the steak (that seasoning is phenomenal—it has lemon peel, lavender, thyme, basil, fennel, savory, and more). It's a delicious change from a chicken dish and it's the sort of dish that would work great as a meal hot from the stove or as a dish for a picnic.