My Ninety-Third - Creamy Pesto Sauce -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

My Ninety-Third - Creamy Pesto Sauce -100 Meals You Never Thought You Would Eat Pureed - Recipes for Head and Neck Cancer patients

One of the major nutritional pieces of advice, my Nutritionist at Dana Farber gave me, was to add a lot of Olive Oil and Coconut Oil to my diet, when I was worried about losing weight.  I dropped this advice in the back of my mind, when I didn't have to add on weight anymore, and was I was more about maintaining a healthy diet.  Back then, I would actually tip the bottle of Extra Virgin Olive Oil right over and pour it down my stomach peg. Usually about 30 ml.

Pesto Sauce is a favorite summer time sauce when our basil plants are in full growth.  It is another recipe that fell off my list once I reached my acceptable weight.  Time to bring it make onto the list, because it is so easy to make fresh.  This past summer, we had a drought, and my garden suffered.  This year should be much better.

This is an ease meal to plan with my vegetarian family.  Except, I just went to the pantry and discovered all the pasta has been eaten . . . 

Creamy Pesto Puree is also great for keeping you warm in the dead of Winter, which is right about now.

SMALL BATCH PESTO SAUCE RECIPE: 
1 cup fresh basil leaves - use fresh
2 Tablespoons cup freshly grated Romano or Parmesan-Reggiano cheese (about 2 ounces)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
tablespoon pine nuts
garlic clove
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
(Optional leave or two of Spinach

Typically, when I pour off the extra sauce from the blender, what remains to the right amount to make a Creamy Pesto Pasta

RECIPE
Remaining Pesto in the blender (2 Tablespoons prepared pesto sauce)
1⁄4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter

2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 cup of cooked hot pasta
Warm water to thin

OPTIONS
Cooked chicken tender
2 Shelled medium to large shrimp
One large sauteed scallop
extra Spinach
one sprout of cooked broccoli 
Stock of Aparagus  
dash of Sun-Dried Tomato sauce


MEAT
Most creamy pesto recipes have some kind of "white" meat of seafood . . . I'd puree lobster in it too.  You don't need a whole lot of meat in this recipe.

PASTA

Angel hair??  Bow-tie??  Tortellini?? Doesn't matter what pasta you are going to use unless you are using a stuffed pasta like tortellini or ravioli.  Ravioli's work well because the stuffing is usually soft already

CHEESE

Just remember that Parmesan, Romano or Parmesan-Reggiano cheese is a very dry cheese and will require extra warm water.  Especially, is you buy the cheap stuff that has sawdust - but that is another story.

VEGETABLE

Add a piece of veggie.  Hide a piece of veggie.  Either way, the puree is going to come out green, so green vegetables work best.  More importantly,  We expect the puree to be green.

SERVE WARM

Cold creamy pasta is a lot like cold eggs - YYUUUUCCCKKK.  On the flip-side they can also burn your lips if they are too hot.

I'm a big fan of Food Network Recipes

Last Night Guy Fieri, reminded me about pesto.

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