Pest-o

Man, really lame that I'm not posting near enough, but things have just seemed really harried around here. I was sick, and then I was a different kind of sick, and now I'm relatively better, but trying to play catch up from all the illness. Anyway, to try and expand my cooking horizons I gave Josh a stack of Everyday Food issues and told him to mark some recipes that he would like me to make. Last night I made the first of his selections- Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto. I had a heck of a time with this one. Things started out great, but when my food processor wouldn't work properly I had to switch to the blender, and when the blender didn't want to blend I had to reverse some steps in the recipe to get things moving. This resulted in a very messy kitchen and a meal that wasn't ready until the clothes in the dryer were ready to be folded. After 45 minutes of folding laundry I finally got to taste the results. Thankfully all that effort was not in vain, because this pasta was delicious. I had my reservations while making it, but I'm glad that Josh chose it. I will definitely make this again, and I might even make the pesto alone and freeze for easy dinners in the future. I'll just start out with the blender in the first place! Take that processor!

Fettuccine with Spinach Pesto
Recipe from Everyday Food; Serves 4
12 oz. fettuccine
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 package (10 ounces) frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons pine nuts, plus more for serving (optional)
1 garlic clove
1 teaspoon grated zest plus 2 tablespoons juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cold water

• Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente, according to package instructions. Reserve 1/2 cup pasta water; immediately drain pasta, and return to pot.
• While pasta is cooking, place spinach, Parmesan, nuts, garlic, and lemon zest and juice in a food processor. Process until a paste forms. With motor running, add oil and cup cold water; process until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper. Add to pasta; toss, adding reserved pasta water a little at a time until sauce is thinned slightly and coats fettuccine (you may not need all the water). Serve, sprinkled with additional Parmesan and nuts, if desired.

My notes: Using the blender, I needed to put the olive oil and water in first to help blend. Things tasted great, so I'm assuming that wasn't a big problem. Maybe it would taste better if I could make a paste and then add them, but I guess I'll never know *shakes fist at food processor*. The pesto smells very lemony, but surprisingly doesn't taste as much so. I am perfectly happy to devour my leftovers for lunch. In fact, I think I'll go do that right now!