Ramp Pesto & Two Tomato Bruschetta

My friend Kat does a lot of work in a communal garden here in Toronto, and one of the things I love most about our Monday night cook-a-thon is she often brings over produce from the garden. Earlier this week, she brought over a jar of ramp pesto! Paired with a quick two tomato bruschetta!

Now, ramps' season is spring, but in the spirit of root to tip and waste-not/want-not cooking, Kat decided to use what was left of the plant.

I'll let her explain it.

The portions of the ramps we used were the buds/heads; the ramps had gone to seed so it was sort of like using the flowery tops of chives instead of the oniony bottom if you know what I mean. Ramp season is fiddlehead season - around April. So these are what's left of the plant at this stage of the year.

Kat's Ramp Pesto


Ingredients

1 bunch of basil, just the leaves, washed
3-4 ramp heads
¼ cup of dry roasted almonds
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1.5 tsp sea salt
1 tsp pepper
3 Tbsp nutritional yeast
dash of water

Directions

1. Blend all ingredients together in a mini chopper or food processor. If you're not vegan, feel free to replace the nutritional yeast with Parmesan cheese.

My Two Tomato Bruschetta

Ingredients

12 thin slices baguette
2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 clove garlic, halved
½ pint cherry tomatoes, seeded and chopped
¼ cup chopped oil packed sun dried tomatoes
¼ cup thinly sliced basil
½ tbsp balsamic vinegar
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp cracked pepper

Directions

1. Preheat broiler of oven. Brush one side of the baguette slices with ½ tbsp olive oil. Broil until lightly browned. Flip over, brush with ½ tbsp oil and toast again until lightly browned. Remove from pan and rub one side of each slice with garlic. Discard garlic

2. In a bowl, mix together remaining ingredients. Let sit for 10 minutes. Check seasoning.

3. If using pesto, spread 1 tbsp on each baguette slice. Top with bruschetta.

Bonus points for using yellow and red cherry tomatoes.

Another Soba Bowl: Marinated Tofu, Mixed Greens and Cilantro-Cashew-Coconut Pesto

Over the last weekend, while doing our weekly clean, my husband and I finally put away our winter boots. April had been so cold and wet, I just kept holding off on putting away the boots, but it seems like now, maybe, just maybe it's time to pack it all away.

Yesterday's pesto got me thinking. Along with the winter boots, mitts and jackets, it also feels like it's time to put away the cast iron dutch oven and to get out the salad spinner.

It's spring and I feel like eating my weight in vegetables.

Also, I'm in a wedding this summer AND going back to Hawaii and a man wished me a happy mother's day as an expectant mother last Saturday, which tells me that the belly fat has got to go because I'm not even vaguely pregnant.

Not hot.

And, what better way of plowing through some delicious greens than doing that than another gigantic vegetable-noodle bowl?

Tamari Marinated Tofu

(from More.ca)

Ingredients

1 block tofu, cut horizontally into 8 pieces, each piece then cut diagonally into triangles.
3/4 cup tamari
½ cup apple cider vinegar (I love the Eden organics brand)
¼ cup water
1½ tsp canola oil

Directions

1. Mix together all liquid ingredients in a non-reactive container (I used a glass container with a lid), then layer in the tofu. Cover and refridgerate for at least 1 hour and up to 5 days. Obviously, the longer you let it sit, the more marinade the tofu will absorb.

2. Grill tofu for 1-2 minutes per side.

Easy as pie... erm... tofu.

I like this served with soba noodles that have been tossed with the Cilantro-Cashew-Coconut pesto, topped with steamed broccoli, rainbow chard, bok choi and bean sprouts. A tablespoon each of cashews and toasted pumpkin seeds pumps up the crunch.

Cilantro-Cashew-Coconut Pesto

I don't think I should be calling this pesto at all, but to simply call it sauce seems to do it a disservice. I came up with this recipe as the companion to another of my Fresh inspired noodles bowls. It's bright and herbal, with lots of room for adaptation.

I wanted something slightly Thai inspired, but without the heat. This is creamy, smooth and would be so great as a counterpart to a spicy summer roll or dolloped on top of a curry for contrast. YUM.

Cilantro-Cashew-Coconut Pesto

Ingredients

2/3 cup dry roasted, unsalted cashews
½ cup light coconut milk
juice of one lime
1 large handul cilantro
1 large handful basil leaves
1 tbsp tamari (or Thai fish sauce, if you're not concerned about keeping it vegetarian)
¼ cup water

(suggested add ins: 1 garlic clove, a spoonful of green curry paste, minced lemongrass, minced serrano pepper if you want some heat)

Directions

1. Pulse all ingredients except water in a food processor until think. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time until mixture reaches desired consistency.

Now, that was easy, wasn't it? Serve with noodles, if you like.

The pesto on soba noodles. Yum!

Getting into the Summer Vibe with Mondays

As a student, the beginning of summer always depressed me. I never quite knew what to do with myself. As a teacher... well... I find myself in the same place. And then I feel badly because my non-teacher friends would kill for this much time off.

But that doesn't stop me from being a little bored. Shh. Don't tell anyone. I miss my students.

To keep myself from weeping softly into my elbow, we've been busy doing a few things. I only have one regular date though, and that's my Monday Night Cooking Date with Kat.

Weekend Cooking

I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the dish I made for a dinner party we went to last night. Fine Cooking's Summer Wheat Berry Salad was a hit with everyone, even though I made it with pot barley instead of wheat berries. One of the advantages of using the barley was it cut the cooking time dramatically - it only took 30 minutes. I subbed the barley in at a one to one ratio, and didn't leave it to cool in the cooking water. You can find the recipe for it after the jump!

A quick note: the dinner party was so lovely! We got to meet up with some of my husband's Tumblr friends, drank copious amounts of wine, ate some seriously delicious pork tenderloin. I don't think I've ever had a moister tenderloin in my life. I think our amazing host, Robin, braised it with figs and shallots. Oh, it was sooo good! It was a totally lovely evening - there's nothing like good company!

Today I've been puttering lazily about the kitchen. Earlier, I whipped together some almond-basil pesto for tonight's pizza (I've got to use up the leftover roasted red pepper and artichokes from last night's salad).

I love five minute recipes! I just had to throw the <--------ingredients in the food processor and voila! Pesto complete!  ------>

Now I'm contemplating how I'm going to use up the five stalks of rhubarb I bought mid week. I think it'll probably end up being Martha's Rhubarb Upside Down Cake (but a half size version, because I don't own a 9" cake pan).