Monday, January 05, 2009

No-Leftover Recipe: Creamy Pesto

For as long as I can remember, I have enjoyed cooking. It's difficult preparing meals for one, particularly eating the same meal several times, so often I will invite friends to join me. Over the year, my goal is to find at least 1-2 recipes a month that are eaten in one shot, without sending any home with the guests.

Since I had basil in my fridge, I felt inspired to pulverize it into a pesto, even though it's a bit out of season. The nutty garlicky flavor is somewhat comforting, but I wanted to take the edge off a bit. Enter cream. A bunch of supermarket basil is enough for at least two batches of this sauce, so I made it this twice, once as a Happy New Year/Congratulations dinner for my friend T and is new fiancee, and the second time as a post-spinning repast with my gym buddy M. On both occasions, there were no (Barilla Plus for health) rotelle left in my massive pasta bowl. Therefore, I think this qualifies nicely as a No-Leftover Recipe.

Half-and-half is a fine substitute (and eliminates some fat and calories), and for a lighter sauce, leave out the parmesan while whisking the pesto into the boiled cream. Buon appetito!

(Even eating a half pound of pasta, I still have prominent collarbones now. Guess the triathlon training has been effective.)

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