Before I get to the basil pesto recipe, let me rave about our trip down south. The Labor Day weekend was rather pleasant, so V and I decided to do a mini getaway from beautiful northern California to gorgeous southern California. Why travel to far places to vacation when the whole world travels here to vacation? I would not normally venture in to Southern California in the summer months, but it has been cooler than normal this summer. Santa Monica and Venice are just perfect – beautiful beaches, beautiful people, beautiful weather, and cars, cars, cars everywhere!
I did not realize Los Angeles and Santa Monica have become such a haven for restaurants serving plant-based food exclusively. Walking around downtown Santa Monica we chanced upon Erven, which opened just a few weeks back. The chef, Nick Erven, though not vegan himself, has created some amazing dishes – one that still haunts my memory is the black garlic chickpea fritter with yuzu. That is going down in the books as the most creative vegan dish ever. I hope Erven does well.
We also went to True Food Kitchen, although this is not an exclusively vegan or vegetarian restaurant. How could we not? The menu is influenced by Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflammatory diet, and V has been a big fan of Dr. Andrew Weil for a long time, and follows several of his key recommendations. The main course was great, but the high note was the “Strawberry-rhubarb crisp almond crumble” dessert. We both fought over it until the last bit had been licked off!
The third noteworthy restaurant we visited in the area was Plant Food + Wine in Venice, CA. Most of the ingredients used are grown locally (in fact some of the herbs are grown right there in the backyard of the restaurant). The menu is very experimental with some dishes hitting the mark, and others not so much. But the plating was uniformly delectable.The outdoor seating was befitting a restaurant serving local southern California cuisine.
The great part is that you really don’t have to be a vegan or vegetarian to enjoy the great food down there in southern California!
Now on to some cooking with local ingredients from our backyard to our kitchen. It is nearing the end of summer and everything in our tiny garden patch is ripe for picking. Amma and I have been picking, blanching and saving tomatoes for the winter. And we had a decent crop of eggplant and bell pepper which we consumed then and there. Is there anything more refreshing than cooking with freshly picked vegetables from the garden? Speaking of which, I went in to total ecstasy when I harvested a huge bunch of fragrant purple basil. And I knew I had to make pesto, nothing but pesto, for now and for later.
This time, I added a small twist to the pesto, and it is all because of V. He planted a habanero chili plant which has gone crazy with yield and I have no clue what to do with all that spiciness. Please do help me with suggestions! I snuck in a couple in my batch of pesto. If you like spicy food, then you will love this variation. If not simply leave out the peppers.
Recipe for Basil Habanero Pesto
Ingredients:
- 4 cups basil leaves
- 1/4 cup pine nuts
- 5-10 cloves garlic (yeah I went crazy with garlic and used up a whole bulb, you could tone in down a bit)
- 2-3 Habanero peppers (optional)
- 1/2 cup olive oil + a bit more for drizzling on top
- 1 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
- salt to taste
Method:
- In a food processor, combine the basil, nuts, garlic and habanero peppers (if using)
- Add the olive oil slowly through the feed tube
- When fully processed, add the parmesan cheese, salt to taste and more olive oil if you want the consistency to be thinner. Pulse to mix
- Scoop out in to a couple of bottles and drizzle some olive oil to cover the top
- Freeze whatever you will not consume in a week or so for later use
Pesto is quite versatile and gets consumed in so many ways in our home. We use it in pasta on the rare occasions that I make pasta or noodles (V is not a big fan), as a spread for sandwiches and mini pizzas, and as a dressing for salads. We freeze part of the pesto for use in the dreary winter months when a whiff of good pesto reminds you that summer will roll around soon, doesn’t it?