The most amazing and inspiring thing
happened yesterday.
Two friends tried two separate recipes
that I’ve shared and liked them.
What? Amazing! I was completely inspired to create and share
more. If you try anything, and whether
you like it or not, I would love your feedback!
Now onto food! On our menu yesterday was Pesto Pork and
Butter/Garlic/Lemon Pasta**
**title subject to change
Since basil is something we grow, and
grow a lot of, I’ve always wanted to make pesto, but never have.
I’ve heard horror stories about using
old pine nuts and how they wreak havoc on your taste buds. Not to mention, they’re rather pricey at the
market. I scoured the internet and found
a recipe using almonds. And by scoured,
I clicked the first link.
It seemed easy enough, so I was
determined to do it. I only had a couple of minor tweaks, but I think that
mainly because I over mixed in the food processor. Oops?
I started by toasting the almonds:
I only toasted them about 3-4
minutes. Add to food processor. Take two garlic cloves, or 1 giant
clove like the one I got:
Make sure you cut up your garlic before
adding to the processor - this clove I cut into 4. Then pulse away. In
retrospect, I think I pulsed too much, so next time I would pulse until the
size of large panko, not fine breadcrumbs.
The original recipe called for 2 cups,
so I stuck to that, initially. Added it to the food processor. The
recipe also calls for 3/4 cup olive oil. So to start, I added 1/4 of it
to the food processor and the rest I drizzled in as it mixed. After
completed combined, I added a pinch of salt and some fresh cracked black
pepper, about 1/4 tsp.
Too much liquid, not enough chunk.
Then it was time to taste. Two
things were evident to me right away: first, I over mixed it, it was way too
liquidy and not chunkish, like traditional pesto. Second, it felt like it
needed something. My immediate go-to when something needs a little
something, is acid, in the form of lemons. Mainly because I have a giant
lemon tree in my backyard, but also because it adds great flavor. I
squeezed half a lemon, which yields about 1 oz.
It was better, but still off. A
friend suggested adding more basil, so I added the rest in my bag, which was a
little under a cup, but a cup would be fine here too. I manually pulsed three
times, to leave a little bit of chunk in those added basil leaves and
WHATDOYOUKNOW? Amazing. Delicious. Still on the thin side, but so good,
it didn't matter.
I decided to use the pesto as a
topping for pork. I used center cut pork chops, about 1-1.5 inches
thick. I seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, knowing that the
pesto was going to bring a punch of flavor. I seared them in olive oil
for about 6 minutes of each side. After, I drained the oil, I put
about half a tablespoon of pesto on each, covered the pan, and let sit for a few
minutes.
Pesto Recipe
1/4 cup toasted almonds
1-2 cloves of garlic, based on your
taste
3 cups basil (54 grams used in this
recipe)
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 oz lemon juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
This recipe made* 18 tbsp. and I made
the serving* 1tbsp.
Macros per serving: 1g Carbs, 11g Fat,
1g Protein
I decided to pair the pork with a
simple pasta. Normally I douse my pasta
with tons of cream and cheese, but being conscious about fat these days,
figured packing more flavor in the way of garlic and lemon could distract from
the lack of fat.
This pasta was better than I had hoped.
I used what I had on hand, hence the
strange butter measurement, but the rest seems pretty standard.
Butter/Garlic/Lemon Spaghetti
39g unsalted butter (a little under 3
tbsp.)
1 tsp. crushed garlic
Zest of 1 lemon (approx. 2 tsps.)
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan
Squeeze of half a lemon (1 oz.)
2/3 cup of cooking liquid
12 oz. Spaghetti
Salt to taste
Macros: 42g Carbs, 7g Fat, 9g Protein –
per serving
Unfortunately, there are no pictures
for the pasta process. After you boil
the pasta (according to package directions) in salted water, drain. In the same pot, add the butter. Turn the stove on low-med to melt the
butter. Add garlic and lemon zest. Turn off stove once melted and mixed – you
want everything warm but you’re not cooking anything, and then add the rest of
the ingredients, minus spaghetti. It’s
important to taste your sauce before you add the pasta. If it’s good on its own, it’ll be amazing
with your pasta.
I didn’t measure* this recipe like I
normally do, because 2 oz. of dry pasta = 5 oz of cooked pasta, and the package
itself told me there were 6 servings, of 2 oz. dry pasta.
The finished product:
I topped with a minimal amount of
parmesan, because parmesan.
*A note about measurements, recipes,
servings, yada, yada, yada:
Since I’m big into macros these days, I
am very conscious of every ingredient. I keep a notebook next to me as I cook,
so I remember to write down everything I add.
Here’s the anal retentive part of me:
after I cook, I try and figure out what I’d like the serving size to be. Like, how much of this would fill me up, and
that would be one serving. I then take
my finished product and use my measuring cup, and scoop it into another
container until there’s none left and I know exactly how many servings I
have. Example: cooking ¾ cup of rice
gives me 10, 1/3 cup cooked rice servings.
Once I know that, I enter it all into a recipe on myfitnesspal and get every
detail about the food I’ve made.
It sounds like a lot of work. Totally, and it kind of is.
BUT, once you do it once, especially to
things you cook all the time, you only have to do it once, as long as you stick
to your recipe.
Happy cooking!
p.s also makes a great gift!
