Process This!

Long on my list of kitchen things to own has been a food processor, and this past spring I finally got one! However, it has taken me this long to actually put it together and put it to good use. Well, I didn't assemble it. As I sat at a wonderful bridal shower for one of my close friends, my awesome hubby put it together for me in all of 30 seconds, proof that I probably should've put it together a while ago. Oh well.

I absolutely love pesto, so therefore it was fitting that this was the first thing I made. Of course, nothing in my kitchen comes without a few snags here and there, this time being unable to figure out how to get the dang thing to run. Turns out we had the bowl on backwards. Whoops.

Pesto is very easy to make. All you need is 2 cups of basil, 1/2 cup of olive oil, 1/3 pine nuts, 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese, 2-3 cloves of sliced garlic, and salt to taste.

We have a pot of herbs out on our deck with fresh basil, cilantro, rosemary etc. I highly recommend doing this if you can, you really can't beat fresh herbs. I think I may have killed off our basil plant with the pesto but no matter, all in the name of deliciousness. So pretty and green!

First, assemble all of your ingredients so you can quickly add them in, like so: 

Next, add the garlic and salt to the food processor and pulse, then add in the basil leaves and blend. Add in a stream of olive oil while blending, then the nuts. Be sure to blend well, and you can add more olive oil in as necessary. Drop your cheese in whenever you so desire. This particular recipe was Paleo and skipped the cheese but I think it is necessary. Cheese is awesome! When all is said and done your pesto should look something like this:

To serve, pour it over whatever you want! In this case we slathered it on some salmon fillets and baked it at 350 for 25 minutes. The next day we sauteed some frozen shrimp in the pesto and served it over pasta. Justin then used it today to put on top of baked chicken. The possibilities are endless! You can also freeze it and use it year round. Here's the salmon and the shrimp:

As a side note, according to the hubby, if you cook your shrimp with the tails on they have more flavor. And after a taste test I think it's true! Not sure why though, anyone have any ideas?

Since the pesto experiment I have used my food processor again for some homemade falafel, which I will be posting shortly. Stay tuned!