Today Ben biked into the wind for 9 miles to get to work (yes, he still had to work on his feet in the kitchen!). I went to camp with a bunch of senior citizens from church and came home to meetings, tensions in the church that live only barely beneath the surface, and an academic paper that is screaming to be finished. Some comfort food is in order. That's why I'm making pesto grilled cheese for dinner tonight. Some nights, slowing down so the voices in your head get bored and leave is worth a smaller amount of sleep.
4 slices of bread (make your own! This recipe is easy and awesome: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html)
4 slices provolone cheese
Argula pesto (mostly made of what we happened to have in the fridge; not really from a recipe)
The only recipe you'll really need is for the pesto:
1 clove garlic
2 big fistfuls of arugula (probably around 2 cups)
1 fistful of parsley (we use flat-leaf, probably around 1/2 cup if you're of the obsessive measuring persuasion)
Olive oil (probably around 1/4c.)
Salt to taste
Nuts if you have them (pine nuts or almonds work best; you can use stronger flavored nuts, but they can compete with the pepperiness of the arugula)
Parmesan if you want it (use if you are putting this on pasta instead of in grilled cheese!)
Preheat oven to 250.
Put garlic, arugula, and parsley in a food processer (a cuisinart is around $100; it's expensive, but we've had ours 5 years and it has paid for itself a bajillion times over). After 20 seconds, drizzle olive oil into processor. Add salt. Taste it to see if you like it. Add a little more salt if you don't. Add nuts if you're rich or if you have them on hand (probably around 1/8c chopped). I didn't have any and they're not in the grocery budget, so we left them out. Add parmesan if you want it (probably around 1/4c.) Process until uniformly mixed.
Melt butter (not margarine, not I can't believe it's not (you can tell the difference), and use more than you think you need - at least 1 tablespoon) in an oven-safe pan that can fit the grilled cheese. Smear a generous amount of pesto on each slice of bread. Put two pieces of cheese on each. Cook grilled cheese on one side. Flip when it is browned. After you flip it, put it in the oven until the other side is browned (around 15 minutes). This way, the cheese all gets melted and you don't have browned bread and non-melted cheese.
A few notes:
- When basil is in season, substitute it for arugula (arugula and basil are not in season at the same time unless you live in Berkeley; if you live in Berkeley, you probably already know what's in season).
- If you want to freeze the pesto, skip the nuts and the cheese. Put the pesto in silicon ice cube trays. When it is solid, turn it out into a freezer bag.
- This pesto is good on: grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, mixed with cream cheese and put on crackers, and is probably also good on chicken. If you want to put it on beef or lamb, put 1/4c. back in the food processor with 1/4c. butter and make a compound butter. Put the butter in plastic wrap in a cylinder shape and put in the freezer. Grill your meat. Slice the butter right out of the freezer and put it on top of your meat. It will melt with the temperature of the meat and make it delicious.
4 slices of bread (make your own! This recipe is easy and awesome: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/08/dining/081mrex.html)
4 slices provolone cheese
Argula pesto (mostly made of what we happened to have in the fridge; not really from a recipe)
The only recipe you'll really need is for the pesto:
1 clove garlic
2 big fistfuls of arugula (probably around 2 cups)
1 fistful of parsley (we use flat-leaf, probably around 1/2 cup if you're of the obsessive measuring persuasion)
Olive oil (probably around 1/4c.)
Salt to taste
Nuts if you have them (pine nuts or almonds work best; you can use stronger flavored nuts, but they can compete with the pepperiness of the arugula)
Parmesan if you want it (use if you are putting this on pasta instead of in grilled cheese!)
Preheat oven to 250.
Put garlic, arugula, and parsley in a food processer (a cuisinart is around $100; it's expensive, but we've had ours 5 years and it has paid for itself a bajillion times over). After 20 seconds, drizzle olive oil into processor. Add salt. Taste it to see if you like it. Add a little more salt if you don't. Add nuts if you're rich or if you have them on hand (probably around 1/8c chopped). I didn't have any and they're not in the grocery budget, so we left them out. Add parmesan if you want it (probably around 1/4c.) Process until uniformly mixed.
Melt butter (not margarine, not I can't believe it's not (you can tell the difference), and use more than you think you need - at least 1 tablespoon) in an oven-safe pan that can fit the grilled cheese. Smear a generous amount of pesto on each slice of bread. Put two pieces of cheese on each. Cook grilled cheese on one side. Flip when it is browned. After you flip it, put it in the oven until the other side is browned (around 15 minutes). This way, the cheese all gets melted and you don't have browned bread and non-melted cheese.
A few notes:
- When basil is in season, substitute it for arugula (arugula and basil are not in season at the same time unless you live in Berkeley; if you live in Berkeley, you probably already know what's in season).
- If you want to freeze the pesto, skip the nuts and the cheese. Put the pesto in silicon ice cube trays. When it is solid, turn it out into a freezer bag.
- This pesto is good on: grilled cheese, pasta, pizza, mixed with cream cheese and put on crackers, and is probably also good on chicken. If you want to put it on beef or lamb, put 1/4c. back in the food processor with 1/4c. butter and make a compound butter. Put the butter in plastic wrap in a cylinder shape and put in the freezer. Grill your meat. Slice the butter right out of the freezer and put it on top of your meat. It will melt with the temperature of the meat and make it delicious.
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