Basil has been on my mind these past couple of days, and today, as I sat outside in my veranda enjoying my latte and the beautiful weather, I looked at the pot containing my basil plant and thought it was about time to make some pesto.  I think my basil plant will not yield a big quantity but it might be just enough for two small batches. 

This recipe I’ve had for a very long time is delicious and freezes beautifully, which allows me to make pesto in summer – when basil is plentiful – and enjoy it in winter.  With pesto in my freezer, the possibilites are endless; mix it with pasta, spread it on home made pizza dough, add a new twist to a potato salad made with new potatoes or add it to bocconcini for a different salad or antipasto.

I hope my friend Katherine will try my recipe and find this pesto to her liking. The addition of parsley softens a bit the taste and does not interfere with the basil. Thank you Katherine for telling me about the pesto you made when we rode the subway on Friday; you gave me a good reason to share this recipe and use my basil before it turns yellow. 

2 cups of basil washed and dried in a salad spinner

1 cup parsley, curly or flat, wahed and dried in a salad spinner 

2 to 3 cloves garlic according to size

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/4 cup blanched and skinned almonds

1/4 cup parmesan or less (according to your taste)

1/3 cup olive oil or more

salt and pepper (go easy on the salt until after adding the parmesan)

I put all ingredients except olive oil in the food processor: garlic (remember to remove the germ in the middle to make it digestible), basil leaves, parsley (stems removed), pine nuts, almonds, parmesan, salt and pepper.  I process  for a one minute, scrape the sides, process again and with the motor running, I add the olive oil in a stream through the feed tube until I reach a medium thick paste.  I stop the machine, scrape  down the sides again, taste, adjust seasoning and voilà….my pesto is ready.

 I shall pay a visit to the farmers market to get some more basil and make extra pesto for the freezer. I’ll store it flat in ziplock bags to be able to break up small pieces as needed.

Bon appétit and enjoy the rest of the summer!

This is one of my favourites sayings.  It literaly means that vanity has a price.  My mother used to say it all the time. Naturally, I learned it from her and said it to my daughters who just hated it and both my daughters would stop me the moment they knew I was going to say my famous line: pour être belle il faut souffrir”.

Ironically today I said it to myself after assembling this croquembouche for Stephanie’s bridal shower.  This beauty is 160 choux high, but I could  not have reached this height without burning a couple of fingers. The final product was worth every minute of pain, all in the name of the young couple’s love. 

Today, this adage applies to this beautiful “pièce montée”: pour un beau croquembouche il faut souffrir!

A while ago I found this recipe of a cake made with olive oil, yogurt and lemon.  The combination was really interesting and since olive oil, yogurt and lemon were staples in our cooking, I had to give it try. 

I doubled the quantity just because I could not see myself turn on the oven for such a small cake.  Of course I knew that I could take a loaf to work and share it with my colleagues. This first attempt produced a moist cake but I found it too oily; however the cake was delicious.  The marriage of olive oil with yogurt and lemon zest produced a flavourful cake.

My colleagues loved it, so, on the weekend I decided to repeat it with a slight change in the ingredients.  Again, I wanted to make two loaves, so I doubled all the ingredients except the olive oil and sugar.  I decreased the quantity to 1 cup of olive oil instead of 1 1/2 cups, and 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2 cups.  Also, the lemon zest was a mixture of lemon and lime zest.  Yummmmm.

This is the original recipe from: http://www.houseandhome.com/food/recipes/lemon-olive-oil-cake-recipe

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

3 large eggs

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup plain whole-milk yogurt

Finely grated zest of 3 lemons

3/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 Directions:

Put oven rack in center position and heat oven to 325°F. Lightly oil a 9-inch springform pan.

 Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.

 With an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in a large bowl on high speed for 5 minutes, or until pale and thick. Add yogurt and zest; beat to combine. With mixer on medium speed, add oil in a quick, steady stream. Reduce speed to low and gradually add flour mixture just until blended. Whisk batter by hand to make sure that all ingredients are incorporated.

Pour batter into pan. Bake, rotating pan once, until cake is golden, center springs back to the touch, and edges pull away from pan, 40 to 45 minutes. Let cool in pan for a minute or two on rack, then release from pan and let cool completely on rack before slicing.   Makes 10 servings.

Enjoy!

The heat and humidity outside are telling me not to go near the oven; so, in order to cool down,  the first thing that comes to my mind is a  a lemon-lime granita. 

Tomorrow, on my way home I shall pick up some of those yellow and green juicy gems and make a granita the way my mother did.  She simply made it with 2 cups of fresh lemon/lime juice, 2 cups water and 1 cup sugar. I might add some Limoncello.  Now, that’s refreshing!

I finally made it to the world of Bloggers!  For so many weeks, I have been thinking of this moment and now that it’s real all the words seems to have evaporated into the air filling my kitchen with the delicious aroma of vanilla, chocolate and more.  I know, my inspiration will come to life as soon as I turn the oven on.

À demain!