No Heat Week Part 1- Cold Pesto Pasta w/ Tomatoes and Mozzarella

Recently we had the displeasure of discovering our air conditioning wasn't working properly, and upon inspection by our home warranty servicer, that we in fact needed an entirely new condensor. That is unfortunately not the kind of repair with a speedy turn around time. This situation rather inconveniently coincided with the increase in temperatures- it is indeed summer here in Texas. We used the windows when the heat wasn't severe, lots of fans, and kept almost all the lights off to cut down on creating any unnecessary heat. Once we had our "cooling" plan in place, my mind naturally turned to our cooking plan, ha. What exactly could we eat all week? I knew that it wouldn't take much cooking in that hot house before I'd pass out from heat stroke. So I came up with a week of food that required very little cooking. I guess the one bonus of it being summer is all the great fresh produce I could take advantage of. We usually eat salad with dinner each night, but this week I made them a bit bigger and added even more veggies in. This is the one recipe that really required any cooking, and as I suspected the mere boiling of a pot of pasta was borderline torturous! But the meal was delicious, so I suppose it was worth it. I based this recipe off the Caprese combo of basil, tomatoes and mozzarella- using the pesto my step mom-in-law generously shared with us.

Cold Pesto Pasta with Tomatoes and Mozzarella
Recipe by me














3/4 lb. rotini pasta
1 cup prepared pesto
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
4 oz. fresh mozzarella, cubed

• Prepare pasta according to package instructions. Drain pasta and rinse with cold water till cool to touch.
• Toss pasta with pesto, tomato and mozzarella. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper. Chill in refrigerator for at least 15 minutes. Serve.
  

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!