Recipe: How to Make Bright Green Pesto

The very last of my basil has flowered, so today I headed out and harvested all the remaining good leaves. It took a while, but the sun was warm on my back, the bees were buzzing gently by, and the smell of the basil as I plucked each leaf one by one, was intoxicating. There are worse ways to spend part of an October morning.

My aim? To make a few batches of pesto to freeze. But the end result looked (and smelled) so good, I couldn’t wait; I decided to use one batch tonight. It will get drizzled over a Sausage, Kale and Bean soup, the thought of which is already making me hungry!

This recipe calls for blanching the basil, which I find is a key way to get the greenest color. Today, I used another trick, too: I added a handful of baby spinach leaves that needed using up as spinach also amplifies the emerald factor. The addition of a few drops of lemon juice makes the pesto a bit brighter, too; I almost feel like it makes the pesto taste greener (is that possible?).

Note: When I am making pesto to freeze, I do not add the cheese or lemon juice. Instead, I add both those things later on to the thawed pesto. So the photos below are pre-cheese, and thus, represent a vegan version that would be delicious on its own, too.

Bright Green Pesto
(makes 2 cups total = 3 batches)

6 c. (slightly compressed but not packed) fresh basil leaves (about 120 gr.); can substitute up to 1 c. baby spinach leaves
3/4 c. toasted pine nuts
6 large garlic cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. extra-virgin olive oil
*1.5 c. freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese (preferred) or Parmesan
*lemon juice, to taste

Preparation

1. Set a large pot of water to boil.
2. Pick over the basil leaves to make sure there are no blemishes (or stems). Fill a large bowl with ice water and set aside. When the water in the pot is boiling, add the basil and garlic, and push down on the basil leaves with a slotted spoon (to submerge them), just until they turn bright green. This blanching process should take less than a minute.

3. Immediately drain the basil and garlic in a colander, and then set the colander in the bowl of ice water to stop the cooking.

4. Once the spinach is cold, remove the colander from the bowl, set in the sink, and let the basil and garlic drain for a few minutes. Then place the basil and garlic on a clean dish towel and pat as dry as possible.

5. Put the basil and garlic in a food processor, add the pine nuts and salt, and pulse until the mixture is finely chopped and begins to come together. With the food processor still running, slowly pour in the olive oil and process until smooth.

6. If using the pesto the same day, add the cheese and lemon juice, and pulse again very briefly, just long enough to combine. Do a quick taste test to gauge lemon and salt levels; add more if needed. You can also add a bit more olive oil if the pesto seems too thick.

*7. If freezing the pesto, omit the cheese and lemon juice, divide the pesto among three freezer-proof containers, and freeze. When you want to use a batch, thaw it fully and let it come to room temperature. Prior to using, add 1/2 cup grated cheese and a few drops of lemon juice, and mix well. Do a quick taste test to gauge lemon and salt levels; add more if needed. You can also add a bit more olive oil if the pesto seems too thick.

Recipe: No-Fail, No-Knead Focaccia

This is a recipe I turn to time and again when serving Italian antipasti. It is the quick version of a Bon Appetit recipe, cutting the first rise time from 8-24 hours, to just 3-4. Even with the shorter first rise, this recipe has never failed me. I start the focaccia in the morning and it is ready at meal time, with only a few brief interventions in between while I am making other dishes. If you do have more time, definitely make the original, longer version. But if you need a quicker focaccia fix, search no further.

Note: Wherever possible, it is best to weigh key ingredients on a kitchen scale to preserve the correct ratios between them.

No-Fail, No-Knead Focaccia

Ingredients:
¼ oz. (7 gr.) active dry yeast
2 tsp. honey
2.5 c. (590 ml.) lukewarm water
22 oz. (625 gr.) all-purpose flour
5.5 tsp. (about 16 gr.) Diamond Crystal kosher salt
6 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus more for hands
butter
Maldon sea salt flakes
fresh rosemary (optional)

Preparation:

1. Whisk the honey and lukewarm water in a medium bowl; add the yeast, whisk again, and let sit 5 minutes (the mixture should look foamy or at least creamy; if it doesn’t, you should start again with new yeast).

2. Add the all-purpose flour and kosher salt and mix with a rubber spatula until a shaggy dough forms and no dry streaks remain.

3. Pour 4 tbsp. of the extra-virgin olive oil into a large bowl, as the dough will rise a lot. Transfer the dough to the bowl and turn to coat in oil. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in size, 3–4 hours. This is the first rise (quick version).

4. Generously butter a half-sheet (18×13 in./45×33 cm.) rimmed baking sheet. The butter will ensure that your focaccia doesn’t stick. After buttering, pour 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil into the center of the sheet.

5. Keeping the dough in the bowl and using a fork in each hand, gather up the edges of the dough farthest from you and lift up and over into center of bowl. Give the bowl a quarter turn and repeat the process. Do this two more times until you have made it all the way around the bowl; you want to deflate the dough while slowly forming it into a rough ball. Transfer the dough to the buttered baking sheet. Pour any oil left in the bowl over and turn the dough to coat. Let rise, uncovered, in a warm, dry spot until doubled in size, at least 1½ hours and up to 4 hours. This is the second rise. By the end of it, the dough should have expanded toward the edges of the baking sheet.

6. Place a rack in the middle of the oven; preheat to 450F/230C.

7. To see if the dough is ready, poke it with your finger. It should spring back slowly, leaving a small indentation. If it springs back quickly, the dough isn’t ready. (If at this point the dough is ready to bake but you aren’t, you can chill it up to 1 hour.)

8. Lightly oil your hands. Gently stretch the dough to completely fill the sheet. Dimple the focaccia all over with your fingers, creating very deep depressions in the dough (reach your fingers all the way to the bottom of the pan). Drizzle with the remaining 1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle with the flaky sea salt (and rosemary, if using). Bake the focaccia until it is puffed and golden brown all over, 20–30 minutes.

Photos below are from two different bakes; one with flaky salt only, the other with rosemary and coarsely ground salt as I didn’t have the Maldon at the time. Both versions are delicious–you really can’t go wrong.

9. The focaccia is best the day it is made, but is delicious toasted the next day, too. My current favorite toppings: burrata and good-quality anchovies. Or burrata and mortadella. Or burrata and marinated tomatoes or marinated roasted peppers. Or no toppings at all….

Recipe: Mediterranean Chicken with Feta and Olives

Necessity is the mother of invention. In this case, I had recently purchased a pack of chicken thighs, without a clear idea of what to do with them — except that now I was home from work and dinner time was looming, I needed an easy solution, and a fairly quick one. So I opened the fridge and cupboards to see what my options were. I guess I could have asked ChatGPT to come up with a recipe, but that would have meant inputting the available ingredients into a prompt, which 1) I was too lazy to do, and also, 2) I like to think that the non-artificial intelligence center within my cranium is still capable of putting 1+1, or 2+3, together to come up with something to eat. (But ask me next week…).

The result of my kitchen scan? I had cherry tomatoes that definitely needed using and some yellow squash from the garden that was now languishing in the crisper bin. Hmmm. What else was in the fridge? There was feta, kalamata olives, and cream. And rosemary outside. An idea began to form. So, what follows is a non-recipe recipe, without actual amounts. I’m confident that no matter how you yourself approach this dish, you can’t go wrong. The ingredients combine into something really, really good!

Mediterranean Chicken with Feta and Olives

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Salt and pepper
Dried oregano
Fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Olive oil (I used garlic-infused olive oil)
Cherry tomatoes, cut in half
Yellow summer squash (or zucchini if you have it), diced
Kalamata olives
Feta cheese (cubed or crumbled)
Heavy cream
Oregano (dried or fresh)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 F (180C).
Sprinkle both sides of the chicken thighs with salt, pepper, oregano, and rosemary.
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, saute the thighs in olive oil over high heat until they are no longer pink on the outside and have picked up a bit of color.
Place the thighs, and any juices or crispy bits from the pot, into a casserole dish large enough to fit the thighs in one layer.
Sprinkle the olives, tomatoes, squash, and feta around the thighs, drizzle with some cream, and sprinkle a little more salt, pepper, and oregano over top.

6. Bake, covered, for about 30 minutes, or until the tomatoes and squash are soft.

You can serve this multiple ways: with crusty bread to soak up the creamy, tomato-ey broth, over quinoa or rice, with potatoes or other roast vegetables, etc.

Tassels and Silks: The Beautiful Anatomy of a Corn Plant

*Corn tassel consisting of individual spikelets, with anthers hanging from filaments*

Last year, I carved out a patch in the vegetable garden, planted some corn kernels, and was very excited when the sprouts emerged. But a few days later, all the sprouts were severed, laying forlornly on their sides where they had fallen. Upon closer inspection, the sprouts had been pulled up and the corn kernels had been chomped off at the base — clearly the work of chipmunk commandos who had infiltrated the garden at the crack of dawn. Chipmunks 1, me 0.

This year, I planted seedlings instead of kernels, crossed my fingers, and hoped for the best. As of yet, there haven’t been any corn massacres, so I’ve been able to watch corn plants grow for the first time — and admire their constituent parts. There is a lot to notice, from the stripy leaves…

… to the beguilingly named tassels and silks. The highly recognizable tassel at the top of every corn plant is the male part of the plant, and consists of about 1,000 spikelets, each containing 3 pollen-producing anthers and their filaments (collectively, the stamens). With 6,000 pollen-producing units on each corn plant, that’s a lot of pollen to be wind dispersed (read more about pollen shed in this great article on “sex in the corn field“).

*(l-r): Emerging tassel, anthers peeking out (exserting) from individual spikelets, tassel with anthers hanging by their filaments*

The silks are the female part of the corn plant. They form at the base of the ear but are most visible at the tip, emerging from the husk. Their job is to catch the pollen and guide it down to the unfertilized corn kernels (ovules) on the ear. Here’s the fascinating part: Each silk is connected to a kernel (or what would be a kernel if successfully pollinated). As not every ovule gets pollinated, most ears produce about 400 to 600 kernels.

You can tell when pollination has occurred because the silks dry up, turn brown, and often fall off. You can also tell when pollination hasn’t been very successful if your ear of corn has missing or misshapen kernels. That’s why it’s important for home gardeners to plant corn in a block rather than a single row, so the pollen has more chance of falling on nearby silks rather than being completely blown away from the row.

*(l-r): Emerging husk, silks popping out of top of husk*, *silks turning brown after pollination*

I don’t have any photos of pollen on the silks, but this is what the tiny yellow pollen grains look like on a corn leaf, along with some spent anthers (they drop off the tassel after the pollen is shed).

*Some of the 2-5 million pollen grains produced by each corn tassel (and some anthers)*

Though corn is pollinated by the wind (anemophily), pollination can also occur with the help of insects (entomophily). Luckily for me, as I was taking photos of the tassels, a bumble bee appeared. Or, more specifically, a female bumble bee appeared–as the females are the only ones to have pollen baskets (corbiculae) on their hind legs.

Recipe: Caramel Mud Cake with Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache

I first discovered dense, delicious mud cakes when we lived in Australia. Traditional mud cakes are rich, fudgy, and very chocolatey — which may explain the name. They are said to have originated in the southern U.S.; the Mississippi variant has marshmallows melted into the frosting on top, while the Aussie version is often topped with a velvety ganache. Mud cakes are single layer, and most are baked low and slow. They also freeze very well.

This particular cake is not chocolate–but caramel, and is an amalgam of two recipes. The ganache is adapted from the Australian Women’s Weekly, and the cake from taste.com.au. The amount of ganache listed here is just enough to cover the cake, and when the cake is also served with whipped cream, it is perfect. If you really, really love frosting/ganache, then make 1.5x the recipe. Which I will do next time….

Ingredients

Caramelized White Chocolate Ganache
300 grams (10.5 oz) white chocolate chips
1/2 cup (125 ml) heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/4-1/2 tsp table salt, to taste

Mud Cake
Melted butter, to grease
200 gr (7 oz) butter, cubed
200 gr (7 oz) white chocolate chips
200 gr (7 oz) dark brown sugar
180 ml (3/4 cup) hot water (or milk; can also sub in a little whiskey for a boozier cake)
1 tbsp golden syrup, maple syrup, or dark corn syrup
1 tbsp vanilla
2 eggs, at room temperature
150 gr (1 cup) all-purpose flour
150 gr (1 cup) self-raising flour [= 1 cup all-purpose flour + 1 tsp baking powder + ½ tsp salt + ¼ tsp baking soda]

Preparation

Ganache
1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Scatter chocolate evenly over base of a shallow baking dish/cake tin and bake for about 15-20 minutes, stirring a few times with a rubber spatula, until caramel in colour (the chocolate will be crumbly, and will slowly change color; keep stirring and baking until it is a rich chocolate brown).

2. Transfer to a large bowl. Bring cream almost to the boil in a small saucepan and pour over chocolate. Mix until semi incorporated, then blend with an immersion blender until smooth.

3. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until ganache is of a spreadable consistency.

Mud Cake
1. Preheat oven to 160C (320F). Brush a round 22 cm (8-9 inch) cake pan with melted butter. Line base and sides with parchment paper, then spray the paper with baking spray or gently brush more melted butter over. [Note: If you forgot to take your eggs out earlier, you can let them sit in some hot water while you get the cake tin and the rest of the batter ready.]

2. Place butter, white chocolate, sugar, water, syrup, and vanilla in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat for 5 minutes or until white chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Set mixture aside for 20 minutes to cool.

3. Add eggs to white chocolate mixture in saucepan, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift in the flours (plus the extra ingredients if you don’t have self-raising flour) and stir until well combined.

4. Pour mixture into pan and bake in preheated oven for 50 mins or until a skewer comes out almost clean. Let cake sit for 20 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool. Frost with ganache and enjoy! (Or, refrigerate, covered, for up to three days; let come to room temperature before serving.)