Ingredients:
– stuff for the pesto (see below — it’s everything that goes in the blender)
– regular sized bag of pasta (I use penne, but choose your fave)
– sausage (however many you want, I cooked four)
– medium onion, chopped
– parmesan
*Note, you could just plop the pesto into the drained pasta and call it a day, but this is exactly how I like to prepare it.
1) In a blender, mix:
– 1/3-1/2 cup of olive oil (this will affect the consistency of your pesto, start with 1/3 and add a bit more if it seems too thick)
– 1/3 cup of pistachios or walnuts or, probably pecans? I use pistachios.
– two cups of greens: carrot leaves (less creamy), radish leaves (more creamy), spinach, anything with a mild taste
– a clove or two of garlic
– juice of a quarter of a lemon (but no big deal if you don’t have it, I never feel like it adds that much)
– salt and pepper to taste
– up to one cup of basil if you have it, but not necessary
– up to one cup of chives if you have it on hand (which I normally never have so this was the first time adding it)
Depending on the quality of your blender, you may have to stop and mix with a spatula from time to time. DO NOT DO THIS WHILE THE BLENDER IS RUNNING. I have had to pick pieces of spatula out of my pesto because I was too lazy to turn the blender off. I have also gotten pesto under my eyelid from the splash back. Both of these things sucked. Stop the blender.
2) Cook your pasta as normal and remember to save a cup of the pasta water after it’s cooked.
3) Cook sausages in a big-ass pan while the pasta is cooking.
4) When the sausage is done, put it aside. I really like adding a sautéed onion to the mix, so chop one up and sauté it in the sausage juices. Add extra olive oil if you need.
4) Once it’s browned, throw the pasta in, as well as the pesto. Now, instead of just coating your pasta with pesto, you are cooking it all together which is far more delicious. As it all cooks and mixes together, it may start to dry out a bit — DID YOU REMEMBER TO SAVE THE PASTA WATER? Add some in, little bits at a time (so you don’t make it super watery). You may not need to do this at all, go with your own preferences.
4) And that’s it! Top with parmesan and those sausages from earlier (I like to cut them up). I’d love to say I grate the parm fresh, but I use the giant thing of KRAFT parm from Costco.
Whatever you do, DON’T let the measurements control you. Pesto is more of a feeling than an exact science.
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basic bitch gets a veggie box: #9 + 10
Many more cucumbers, tomatoes, green beans, carrots, onions, and radishes. Getting fresh garlic was so cool (the stem is really long!?), and we also got chives.
So I’ve made loads of bruschetta, tomato salads have become a diet-staple, the Southern-style green beans are in a weekly rotation (and always served with Mac and cheese or grilled cheese), and I roast everything that can be roasted.
But with the last box we got radishes and chives. I learned that radish leaves can be used in pesto (the same way I was using carrot leaves), and so can chives! So I thought this was a good time to share the blueprint for trailer trash pesto (which started from a legit recipe and has morphed into the white-trash glory that it now is).
i keep sweaters in my stove 