The internet is ruining my life.
A few days ago, I was minding my own business while scrolling through Facebook when I saw the following clickbait: “Have you been loading your dishwasher wrong all these years?”
Loading the dishwasher is not a difficult task. You open the door and place the dishes inside. Then you pour in some soap, press the button, and in an hour your dishes are clean. Simple, right?
Or, so I thought. Perhaps I have been doing it wrong all these years. Perhaps there is a better way. Perhaps I only think my dishes are clean.
A few days later I saw another post: “You’re cracking eggs all wrong.”
Once again, self-doubt creeps in. Have I been cracking eggs wrong? Do my friends and family know about this? Have they been secretly laughing about me behind my back?
“He’s a nice guy,” they say, “but have you seen the way he cracks his eggs?!”
As I continue to surf the web still more questions arise. “Do you know the proper way to put coffee in a coffee maker?” and “Are you still vacuuming your carpet wrong?”
So many problems. It boggles the mind.
Not really. In reality, I almost always roll my eyes when I see those stories.
I understand how clickbait works, and so I am not so easily sucked in. Usually, I scroll right by those headlines promising to tell me “What TV co-stars secretly hated each other?” and “Ten Ways to Save Money at the Supermarket.”
I’ve got more important things to do online. Like, look at cat pictures and … more cat pictures.
Still, every now and then one of those clickbait stories catches my eye. That happened last week.
I was minding my own business scrolling through social media when I saw something that made me pause: “Should you blanch your basil first when making pesto?” I have to be honest. I clicked.
Here’s why. Fresh pesto is one of my favorite things to eat this time of year. The combination of crushed basil, garlic, pine nuts and Parmesan — with a bit of olive oil to tie it all together — is fantastic. I could eat it every day.
The other Michael taught me how to make it. He uses a recipe he got from a friend of his in graduate school.
She is Italian, so she should know her pesto. But here was an article suggesting that I — and, hence, she — had been missing something all these years.
But what is bleaching?
It simply means dipping food — in this case the basil — in boiling water for a short period of time before then transferring it to ice water to stop the cooking process. Blanching usually doesn’t impact a food’s texture. It can, however, affect the way it looks.
According to the article, “Does Blanching Keep Pesto Green?” dipping basil in boiling water for 30 seconds de-activates an enzyme that can cause pesto to brown over time.
I was intrigued. I have noticed that pesto does begin to lose its color shortly after you blend the ingredients together.
It’s never bothered me. Pesto tastes so good that I don’t care if it’s green or brown or blue. Still, I decided to give bleaching a try.
The result? It worked.
My pesto maintained its bright green color longer. North did it affect the flavor.
Of course, there was a tradeoff. Blanching added a step to the process.
The white basil was also saturated with water. I tried spinning the water out in my salad spinner, but it wasn’t enough.
Eventually, I had to wring out the water the way you would wring out a wash cloth. I was amazed by how much liquid those little green leaves could hold.
So, do I recommend blanch your basil before turning it into pesto? Probably not. Still, it was a fun experiment, and, in the end, I still got to eat pesto.
And that’s really all that matters. Now, about those cracked eggs….
Prevetti Pesto
The recipe, as written, is for traditional pesto. If you want to try blanch your basil, it will be your first step. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil. Add your basil and stir for 30 seconds (no longer!). Remove the basil and plunge it into ice water to stop the cooking process. Wring out the water as completely as you can, and then proceed with the recipe below.
Ingredients
- 2 basil cups, packed
- ½ cup olive oil
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
- A generous handful of pine nuts
- 2 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
- ½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving
- 16oz. of pasta, cooked
I like to begin with the pine nuts because that gives them time to cool. Place the pine nuts in a frying pan, and cook over a medium heat until they just begin to brown (they should also begin to smell toasted). Immediately remove them from the heat and from the pan, as they scorch easily.
Combine the basil, olive oil, salt, garlic and both cheeses in a food processor. Add most of the pine nuts (you will need a few for sprinkling on top when you serve your pesto), and process until smooth.
To serve with pasta, warm the pesto in a saucepan (or the microwave). Spoon over cooked pasta, and top with remaining pine nuts and Parmesan cheese.
Pesto Chicken Salad
This simple recipe comes from Eating Well magazine, and it is a great way to use up leftover chicken as well as pesto.
Ingredients
- ½ cup plain Greek yogurt
- ⅓ cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons minced shallot
- 2 tablespoons pesto
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 3 cups shredded or cooked chopped chicken
- 1 cup packed, coarsely chopped arugula
- ½ cup halved cherry tomatoes
- Additional pine nuts for serving
Combine the yogurt, mayonnaise, shallot, pesto, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Stir in the chicken, arugula and tomatoes. Refrigerate until cold.
Use this as you would any chicken salad, either on a bed of greens or atop a piece of toasted bread. Top with additional pine nuts.
Pesto Pizza with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
This was one of the first recipes I ever made when I was living on my own. Back then, I used frozen bread dough as a crust. Now I recommend that you use your favorite pizza crust recipe (frozen or homemade).
Ingredients
- 1 pizza crust
- ½ cup pesto
- 8oz. fresh mozzarella, thinly sliced
- 2 tomatoes
- ¼ cup grated Parmesan
- Salt, to taste
- Pepper, to taste
- pine nuts
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal. Stretch your raw pizza dough on the prepared sheet. Spread the pesto across the dough (as you would tomato sauce). Bake for 4 minutes (this will crisp up the dough a little). If you are using a pre-cooked pizza crust, you can skip this step.
Remove from the oven and top the pizza with sliced tomatoes. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Top with the grated Parmesan.
Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes until the crust is nicely brown and crisp. Top with a few pine nuts, and serve immediately.
