Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto~For Kim

This recipe is a special request from my friend Kim. We had her and her husband Kevin over for dinner last Sunday evening- a simple dinner of grilled burgers, macaroni salad (my friend Jess's recipe), baked beans, and watermelon (because what summer cookout is complete without fresh watermelon?) I always try to have something for my guests to munch on before dinner, and this time I made Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Pesto and served it with mini toasts. I always have the ingredients on hand because I use the same ingredients in other dishes. I found the original recipe in "The Food Matters Cookbook", but I no longer follow it exactly.

Ingredients:
Walnut halves- roughly a cup (I just added a couple handfuls)
2 jars Roasted Red Peppers- drained
3-5 cloves garlic- peeled
handful of fresh basil
a couple tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
pinch of salt


Directions:
1. Put the walnuts in your food processor.





Pulse until they are reduced to this:


2.Add in your red peppers (remember to drain them), garlic, basil, and a pinch of salt. Pulse until smooth. Slowly drizzle in your olive oil- roughly a couple tablespoons. I tend to use less because I don't like my food oily.

And you're done! So simple! It takes about 5 minutes to put together. You can serve it immediately, but I prefer to chill it first. It is even better the next day!



*Adapted from "The Food Matters Cookbook" by Mark Bittman

(Please excuse the quality of my pictures. My poor camera is on it's last legs- it has survived 3 kids, lots of beach vacations, being dropped several times and it's finally giving up. I am in the process of researching and deciding what I want to replace it with. And since I have a birthday fast approaching I have asked for one as my gift. So hopefully I will have a new one in the near future- if I could just decide what I want!)

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