A Pesto for all Seasons

I'm sure most of you already know pesto as that bright green pasta sauce made with tons of fresh basil and pine nuts. It's really easy (& quick!) to make, especially if you use a food processor or similar device.

There's a few problems though: (1) Basil is grown here as a summertime annual, meaning your wintertime cravings rely on imported herbs that probably aren't going to be of the same quality as summer's abundance. (2) If you've tried to purchase pine nuts lately, you'll notice they've become quite a commodity-- I saw them being sold for over $20 per pound! Pine nuts, literally the seed that develops in a pine cone, take about 18 months to develop. In that timespan, a lot can go wrong. This past year, for instance, the warmer temperature patterns in Utah meant that their pine trees didn't get the consistent nourishment from the snowpack they need, so a lot of the seeds never fully developed.

So what do you do when you can't make that classic pesto? Make it with kale and other nuts instead, of course! And you know what? It tastes amazing. Here's my favorite winter pesto recipe:

A Pesto for all Seasons (especially winter)

INGREDIENTS

Yields 1.5 - 2 cups.

• 1 bunch green kale (lacinato/dino is best) stripped from stems
  
• 3/4 cup walnuts & almonds, or any other nuts you have on hand
  
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
  
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and trimmed
  
• 1/2 lemon, for juice
  
• 1/2 cup shaved parmesan
  
• Salt and pepper to taste

PREPARATION

1 Place your nuts in the food processor, and chop them up a bit. They'll still remain pretty chunky and uneven, but that's okay. Add in the garlic, parmesan, and olive oil, then squeeze the juice from half a lemon in, too. Process this mixture for a few minutes, or until everything looks pretty evenly incorporated. Once it's at this stage, be sure to stop otherwise it will start getting overly thick.

2 Give your food processor a break while you prepare the greens. Be sure to wash them, and take out the tough stem in the center. You'll want to blanch them-- this can be done simply by bringing a pot of water to a boil, then dumping the kale in. Let them remain in the bath just long enough for the water to return to a boil (a few minutes), then quickly remove the greens to a colander and run under a cold-water shower.

3 Next, take the kale and squeeze the water out of it, handfuls at a time, and place the leaves in the food processor along with your nut and oil concoction. Process the greens in with everything until it has a uniform appearance! If you notice that some of the greens aren't being mixed in, take a spatula and shove them down towards where the blades are. This recipe makes relatively low-oil pesto, but you can feel free to add as much as you want for desired consistency.

SERVING

I almost love this version of pesto more than the classic basil version! Either works great on pasta (duh), but I also enjoy it as a sandwich spread, or a dip for veggies.

RELATED INFORMATION

My entry all about kale!

Make Your Own Creme Fraiche

The Oxford dictionary defines creme fraiche as 'a type of thick cream made from heavy cream with the addition of buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt'. A lot of people wonder what the difference is between sour cream and creme fraiche, as they are often used interchangeably in recipes, particularly in savory soups. If you've tried different store-bought varieties before, you'll notice that there is indeed a range: some are soupier than sour cream, and less tangy, some are much thicker, and more tangy, and some are even sweet. In my opinion, creme fraiche is simply more 'creamy'-- so it tastes more like cream.

This does tend to mean more fat, yes, but I'm not an anti-fat person. Especially not tasty, naturally occurring milk fat. Consider that this is something you add to recipes as a topping usually, so you probably don't need to stress out over exactly how much fat is in it. (In my humble opinion.)

You can find it in plenty of stores, and often times pay a pretty penny for it, or you can make it yourself, on the cheap. If you make it yourself, you're in charge of all the factors of its taste: how sour it is, how thick it is, and the quality of the ingredients, of course. And it's easy and fun, too!

INGREDIENTS
Yields just over 2 cups.

• 2 cups heavy cream-- I advocate as unadulterated, fresh-from-the-cow as you can get. You'll taste a difference. Also, it takes ultra-pasteurized cream longer to thicken, so avoid that if you can.
  

• 1/4 cup plain yogurt or buttermilk (or previous batch of creme fraiche)

PREPARATION
1 Warm up the cream on the stove, but don't boil it. Take it off the heat and let it naturally cool down to room temperature.
2 Transfer to a bowl, and then add in your yogurt or buttermilk, cover it with a loose rag. Keep it on the kitchen counter at room temperature to let it culture. After about 12 hours you'll want to taste it. If you like it more sour or tangy, leave it another 12 - 24 hours. You'll notice the heat will expedite this process, so keep in mind that the amount of time you leave it out for your desired tanginess might differ throughout the year.
3 Once it's done, put in in a sealed jar in the fridge, and you can use it for up to two weeks. At the tail end of those two weeks, you can use a 1/4 cup of it to make a new batch. Amazing, cheap, and simply delicious.

SERVING
Creme fraiche is great on savory soups and stews, but can also go well with desserts, particularly fruit. You can even whip sugar in (1-2 tablespoons granulated white sugar to 1 cup creme fraiche) and use it in place of whipping cream. It really is all-star.