Ypsi Cooks

Eli loves “green sauce” (pesto) and requested it for dinner the other night. Well, we didn't have much basil, but did have some cooked kale hanging out in the fridge. As I pondered making a faux pesto I remembered ricotta cheese being added to the light pesto recipe form Cook's Illustrated “Best Light Recipes.” I also happened to have about 8 oz. of ricotta that needed using. With all that in mind I set out to make a “green sauce” to empty my fridge and delight our taste buds. The result? Success. We used leftovers to spread on bread, topped it with cheese and popped it under the broiler for a few min. The rest we took with us on our weekend with our foodie friends, and a few didn't even realize there was green stuff in there that wasn't basil. One friend scoffed at the title pesto, but all seemed satiated with the delicious, nutritious, aptly titled “basil spread.”Basil Spread

The easiest way to do this is to start the water boiling for the pasta, salt it, add the kale leaves (get going on the garlic), pull them out 3 min later, drain, and add to the food processor.
This can be made with a knife on a cutting board, adding the ingredients in the same order, chopping furiously between additions, but it will never be quite as saucy. Literally and figuratively.

Several blacnched kale leaves (or other greens) (Maybe 3/4-1 cup washed, cooked & chopped)
A few small handfuls of basil (because that's all I had)
Dried basil
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
1/4 c. ricotta
Parmesan Cheese
Nuts (about 1/3 cup)(I usually let Eli choose, but I must say I'm partial to walnuts)
Salt & Pepper

In a food processor, process the garlic until finely minced. If there's time, let that sit for a little while to oxidize. Add greens & pulse until chopped. Add fresh basil and pulse some more until chopped and incorporated. Remove lid and drizzle with a little olive oil, drop on ricotta, and a few shakes of dried basil. Process until almost desired consistency. Add parmesan, nuts, salt and pepper to taste, then process until you think it's done. Enjoy on pasta, bread, crackers, veggies…

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 21st, 2009 at 2:37 pm and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.