Fresh Pesto

Fresh basil from the garden.

Pesto is super easy to make and freeze.  I feel a tremendous joy in clipping off the stems and leaves of basil as it smells sooo good! These stalks were gleaned from those that were "bolting" which means sending up flower stalks and going to seed.

After rinsing the leaves in the sink, I let them dry on the counter then picked the leaves off and placed them in a blender.

Traditional pesto is made with olive oil, garlic, pine nuts, basil (of course), and Parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper (or even hot red pepper flakes) may be added as desired.

For freezing purposes, I leave out the Parmesan cheese and add it in later after the basic pesto sauce has defrosted and we are ready to use the pesto.  You can also leave the cheese out entirely for a vegan sauce and it is just as good.

One of the things I love about pesto, or any of the fresh herb pastes we make for recipes, is the ability to swap out ingredients, in this case nuts.

If you would prefer to use walnuts instead of pine nuts, go for it. Walnut basil pesto is delicious. Another fun thing to add more depth to your pesto is to lightly roast your nuts first to enhance their contribution to the sauce.

2 C. fresh basil leaves
3-4 cloves garlic, chopped finely
1/3 C. pine nuts
1/4 - 1/2 C. olive oil
1/2 C. Parmesan cheese

Place the basil leaves, garlic, and pine nuts in a food processor and puree for a few seconds. Add the olive oil slowly while the processor (or blender) is running and until you get the consistency that you like. Note that you may not add all the oil called for.

If you prefer to freeze your emerald sauce, then stop now before adding the Parmesan and divvy it up into containers or zip-locks and stock it away for a future meal.  If you wish to use the sauce right away, stir in the Parmesan and enjoy.  (Or no Parmesan if going vegan.)

Experiment with consistency and enjoy.

- Kim Fielding

Chile Rellenos - Vegan Style

Cooked chiles stuffed with cashew
cream cheese, herbs, veggies, and spices.

Chile rellenos, traditional style, have always been a rare indulgence. With the time it takes to make them, all the fat and frying involved, and the guilt afterwards for eating way too much of this fatty yet yummy food, my family doesn't go there very often.

Along comes Kris Carr with one of her most recent cookbooks "Crazy Sexy Kitchen".  When we saw the picture of her Chile Rellenos with Red and Green Sauces, we just had to try it.  However, as I have said before, I have trouble following a recipe so I adapted a little here and there.  My past experience though tells me that all of her recipes are PERFECT just the way they are printed.

Chiles are abundant in our garden as end of season crops.  We have serranos, habaneros, cayenne, jalapenos, and poblanos.  That isn't counting the gentle black and red peppers which we will be stuffing this week.  This chile relleno recipe works well with poblanos or anaheims.

Serves: 6
Prep and cook time:  about an hour

6 poblano or Anaheim chiles
2 tsp. olive oil

Cashew-Jalapeno Cheese filling:
2 C. raw cashews, soaked in water about 30 minutes to soften
3 Tblsp. lime juice
3/4 C. water
2+ Tblsp, nutritional yeast
1/2 yellow onion, minced
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced
1/2 C. finely diced yellow, orange, or red bell pepper (or a mix)
1/2 C. finely chopped cilantro
2 shallots, minced
1-1/2 Tblsp cumin powder
1 heaping teaspoon dried oregano
salt to taste

Sauce:
Kris Carr uses two sauces in her beautiful book version.  An ancho pepper puree and a cilantro mint puree. Both are divine.  The cookbook will give you those recipes.  I chose to use one of my own salsa verdes which I had prepared with tomatillos from the garden.

Roast the chiles.  Preheat oven to broil.  Rub the chiles with the oil and place on a metal baking sheet. Broil for one minute on each side. Watch carefully!  You want the skin to soften and bubble but not burn. Remove the chiles from the oven and set aside.

While the chiles are cooling, prepare the filling.  In a blender, add the drained cashews, lime juice, and water.  Blend on high until completely smooth.  Pour mix into a bowl and add the nutritional yeast, minced onion, jalapeno, peppers, cilantro, shallots, cumin, oregano, and salt.  Mix together gently with your hands until blended.

Back to the chiles...

Preheat oven to 225 degrees.

Make a slice down the length of the roasted chiles and gently open up a pouch. Spoon the Cashew-Jalapeno filling into each of the chiles using up all of the filling.

These chiles weren't roasted first.  We decided we liked
them roasted after making this batch.  But hey, you
can skip this step if you like or want to save time.

Cook in an oiled baking sheet for 25 minutes.  Remove from oven.

The smell of these cooking is really nice.  Place a spoonful of sauce
on the plate and place a stuffed chile on top.

We made a salad with chopped greens and yellow tomatoes from the garden.

 Dress the salad with a light vinaigrette and place a portion over the plated chile with sauce.

The finished meal.

Serve with your choice of side dishes.  This meal features fresh melon and home-made bread.

This was devoured by my men who all loved this.  Even my carnivore husband ate every last bite.

Calories and nutrition for one large vegan chile relleno with 2 tablespoons tomatillo sauce and 1/2 cup dressed salad is approximately 600 calories.  This serving includes 8 g fiber, 21 g protein, and almost 43 g fat, most of which is mono- and poly-unsaturated with only 7 g being saturated.  Then there is a full compliment of vitamin C, copper, iron, manganese, magnesium, phosphorous, and selenium. Oh, and lots of other minerals and vitamins too.

Don't be put off by the fat calories in this recipe.  A traditional chile relleno would be stuffed with cheese, breaded and fried, and paired with beans and rice.  There would be more fat calories, most of which would be saturated from the cheeses, not to mention the frying.  Beans and rice pile on the starches of which you honestly only need one serving.

Explore and enjoy.

- Kim Fielding