A great weeknight dinner: Panini with homemade pesto, salad with homemade dressingMy cooking repertoire is severely limited. Though I love to cook and entertain at home, I am rarely graced with inspiration for my own creative dish. Instead, I tend to pour over cookbooks and then spend half of my prep time reading and re-reading recipes to make sure everything is going according to plan. That’s fine for special occasions and those rare days when I have hours in the kitchen to pretend that I’m The Next Food Network Star, but it just doesn’t work for weeknight dinners when time and fatigue are major factors. These evenings usually consist of various takes on chicken, pasta, and green salad – not the most exciting of menus. I’ve found, however, that getting creative with sauces and dressings is a wonderful way to avoid the weeknight doldrums. The problem there, of course, is that many store-bought dressings can be pricey - especially when buying several different kinds to diversify.
The cheap solution? Turn the kitchen into a flavor lab and start experimenting!
Below are a couple of my most successful attempts at the basics, but the point is to use your own pantry as inspiration for work-a-day dinner diversification on the cheap. Please share your success stories!
Pesto
Basic pesto is nothing more than basil leaves, pine nuts, parmesan or romano cheese, garlic, and olive oil. With those ingredients, it’s tough to go wrong. Give about a cup of basil leaves a quick rough chop to get them started before putting them into a food processor. Next toss in around a half a cup of pine nuts (toasting them first helps release a lot of their wonderful flavor). Mash up a few cloves of garlic (mashing vs mincing guards against large pieces of unincorporated garlic). Finally throw in around 1/4 cup of grated or shredded cheese. Process or blend while streaming in good olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. The beauty of experimenting is that you can play with quantities and textures according to taste. I happen to prefer rustic pesto, so I don’t tend to process until smooth. I also end up tossing in more (and then a little more, and maybe a little more) cheese.
The last time I checked pine nuts were going for around $17.99 a pound (ouch!). Pretty saucy, but not too cheap. Walnuts (less than half the price) are a very tasty alternative. I’ve also used rosemary instead of basil - a very different texture and flavor, but equally delicious. There are lots of possibilities to liven things up – adding some sun-dried tomato, different fresh herbs of choice, etc. Also consider varied uses for the pesto – tossed in pasta, on panini, over vegetables, etc.
Salad Dressings
A gift basket full of different preserves, jams, and dips was the inspiration for creating my favorite salad dressings. Since my husband and I aren’t big jam and bread people, the little jars of preserves were in danger of sitting unused in our kitchen cabinet for years to come. They came to mind one evening, however, when I needed to jazz up a salad for a small dinner party. I ended up using a raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip (the Target brand Archer Farms has a wonderful equivalent) as the dressing base. I spooned about a tablespoon of the dip into a small plastic container with lid, added about 2 tbs of salad vinegar (or white wine vinegar) and good olive oil, and fresh black pepper to taste. After stirring and shaking until incorporated, I tossed with salad greens, dried cranberries, and walnuts. This concoction has become a staple and dresses almost any kind of salad beautifully. It can also be used to baste meats.
The same basic principle can be applied to any kind of fruit preserves or jams. Add some fresh herbs for extra flavor. It takes about 2 minutes, tastes amazing, and gives lots of options just using the items already on hand.
Hummus
Hummus is one of my all time favorite treats. Healthy and flavorful, it’s the perfect alternative to other pre-dinner options that could derail a diet in no time. The problem is that most store-bought hummus is quite pricey (around $5 for a small container easily finished in one sitting.) Good news – hummus is fun and easy to make!
My basic hummus recipe is this: Pour one can of undrained chickpeas into a food processor. Add around 1 ½ tb of tahini (sesame seed paste) and a couple of cloves of mashed garlic. Process while streaming in good olive oil (up to ½ c). Salt and pepper to taste. Most recipes call for a greater quantity of tahini, but I prefer less of its pungent flavor (it’s also the most expensive ingredient.)
From here, the options are endless. Roast the garlic cloves for a sweeter taste, add paprika for additional color and flavor, use flavored oils (Rosemary oil was wonderful), add various fresh herbs, use red pepper flakes for heat. Hummus is quick and easy and has a long fridge life. I like doing small batches of different flavors to have on hand to serve with pitas and crackers or as an alternative to mayo on sandwiches.
The cheap solution? Turn the kitchen into a flavor lab and start experimenting!
Below are a couple of my most successful attempts at the basics, but the point is to use your own pantry as inspiration for work-a-day dinner diversification on the cheap. Please share your success stories!
Pesto
Basic pesto is nothing more than basil leaves, pine nuts, parmesan or romano cheese, garlic, and olive oil. With those ingredients, it’s tough to go wrong. Give about a cup of basil leaves a quick rough chop to get them started before putting them into a food processor. Next toss in around a half a cup of pine nuts (toasting them first helps release a lot of their wonderful flavor). Mash up a few cloves of garlic (mashing vs mincing guards against large pieces of unincorporated garlic). Finally throw in around 1/4 cup of grated or shredded cheese. Process or blend while streaming in good olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste. The beauty of experimenting is that you can play with quantities and textures according to taste. I happen to prefer rustic pesto, so I don’t tend to process until smooth. I also end up tossing in more (and then a little more, and maybe a little more) cheese.
The last time I checked pine nuts were going for around $17.99 a pound (ouch!). Pretty saucy, but not too cheap. Walnuts (less than half the price) are a very tasty alternative. I’ve also used rosemary instead of basil - a very different texture and flavor, but equally delicious. There are lots of possibilities to liven things up – adding some sun-dried tomato, different fresh herbs of choice, etc. Also consider varied uses for the pesto – tossed in pasta, on panini, over vegetables, etc.
Salad Dressings
A gift basket full of different preserves, jams, and dips was the inspiration for creating my favorite salad dressings. Since my husband and I aren’t big jam and bread people, the little jars of preserves were in danger of sitting unused in our kitchen cabinet for years to come. They came to mind one evening, however, when I needed to jazz up a salad for a small dinner party. I ended up using a raspberry honey mustard pretzel dip (the Target brand Archer Farms has a wonderful equivalent) as the dressing base. I spooned about a tablespoon of the dip into a small plastic container with lid, added about 2 tbs of salad vinegar (or white wine vinegar) and good olive oil, and fresh black pepper to taste. After stirring and shaking until incorporated, I tossed with salad greens, dried cranberries, and walnuts. This concoction has become a staple and dresses almost any kind of salad beautifully. It can also be used to baste meats.
The same basic principle can be applied to any kind of fruit preserves or jams. Add some fresh herbs for extra flavor. It takes about 2 minutes, tastes amazing, and gives lots of options just using the items already on hand.
Hummus
Hummus is one of my all time favorite treats. Healthy and flavorful, it’s the perfect alternative to other pre-dinner options that could derail a diet in no time. The problem is that most store-bought hummus is quite pricey (around $5 for a small container easily finished in one sitting.) Good news – hummus is fun and easy to make!
My basic hummus recipe is this: Pour one can of undrained chickpeas into a food processor. Add around 1 ½ tb of tahini (sesame seed paste) and a couple of cloves of mashed garlic. Process while streaming in good olive oil (up to ½ c). Salt and pepper to taste. Most recipes call for a greater quantity of tahini, but I prefer less of its pungent flavor (it’s also the most expensive ingredient.)
From here, the options are endless. Roast the garlic cloves for a sweeter taste, add paprika for additional color and flavor, use flavored oils (Rosemary oil was wonderful), add various fresh herbs, use red pepper flakes for heat. Hummus is quick and easy and has a long fridge life. I like doing small batches of different flavors to have on hand to serve with pitas and crackers or as an alternative to mayo on sandwiches.
4 comments:
MC -- I like it and will read it all tonight. I'll also add your link to F&FW. Welcome.
Hey buddy! You inspired me to try my hand at making my own pesto last night! After reading your post I realized I had leftover pine nuts and basil that needed to be put to good use! I had Asiago cheese so I just used that...should have taken your advice and added some more (and then some more) but it was fun to try something new!
Christie - How did the pesto turn out?
Pesto turned out pretty well!! I think I should have added more cheese...the basil was a little overpowering and there was a sort of bitter aftertaste that I think more cheese would have helped to diminish. But for a first attempt it was great on orzo pasta and then on a sandwich!
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