Two way Pesto

A few weeks ago I made an agreement with my parents that I will cook twice (or more) a week. Because I didn’t want to spend a whole afternoon in the kitchen I decided to make some pesto. An easy way to use up all the basil that was just hangin’ around in the garden.

‘Basic’ pesto seemed a bit boring to me, so I decided to make two different pestos. First, I made some basic pesto and devided this in two. On the first batch I added some sun dried tomatoes and in the second portion I processed some rocket salad.

Pesto
- basil
- pine nuts
- garlic
- (black) pepper
Mix all the ingredients (to taste) in the foodprocessor and mix well, but leave some bigger pieces.

• Pesto with sun dried tomatoes
  - sun dried tomatoes
  Add the tomatoes to half of the basic pesto in the foodprocessor and mix till it’s a smooth mass. This can take a while since there are some big chuncks between those tomatoes.
  I bought a box of sun dried tomatoes in the store, but you can easily make your own by buying (or taking from your garden) some small tomatoes, half them and grill them in your oven.
  
• Rocket pesto 
  – rocket salad
  Add a handful of rocket to the other half of the basic pesto in the foodprocessor. Mix till you become the desired consistency.

Delicious and simple! I served the pasta pesto with grilled bell pepper and some left-over sun dried tomatoes.

We always make a huge batch of pesto, with a good layer of oil you can keep this in your fridge for a few weeks. It’s delightsome on a sandwich but also handy when you want to make a quick pasta!

Potato-green bean-salad and tomato-herbsalsa

When the weather is nice, I love to have a good ol’ barbecue. Veggies and burgers are often delicious, but the salads and side dishes are at least as good! There’s nothing as nice as walking into your vegetable garden and picking the veggies of choice. Last week I tried a potato-green bean-salad and some kind of tomatosalsa.

Potato-green bean-salad

4 persons

About 10 small potatoes
green beans
wild parsley (about 4 twigs)
chive (about 4 ‘twigs’)
2 tablespoons mustard
1 tablespoon agave syrup
juice from 1 lemon

For the dressing: put the mustard, agave syrup and lemonjuice in a jar with a lid. Screw tight and shake it properly. Store in the refrigerator ’till further use. 
Boil the potatoes and let them cool. Cut them, when necessary, in smaller parts.
Cut the beans in two (or three, depending on their size) en boil them. Let them cool. 
Mix the potatoes and green beans with the parsely en chive. Add the dressing and some extra pepper, mix it properly. 

Tomato-herbsalsa
4 persons

3 medium tomatoes
oliveoil
balsamic venigar
wild parsley, basil, wilde arugula, chive

Peel the tomatoes. You put a cross on the upperside of the tomato. When you’re lucky, you can peel it right off with a knife. Otherwise, you immerse them for a few seconds in boiling water and peel them afterwards (like explained here). 
Cut them in four and remove the seeds. Cut them in little pieces and put them in a bowl.
Chop the herbs and add them to the tomatoes.
Pour some oliveoil and balsamic vinegar (about a tablespoon each) over them and you have a wonderful sidedish!

For those who love garlic, you can add one or two cloves.
This salsa is delicious on top of bruschetta or with pasta.