Pesto Lentils with Zucchini and Capsicum

 

I'm so happy to share with you an outrageously delicious, simple, filling, and healthy lentil and vegetable dish. When I talk to our friends these days about food and what they are cooking for themselves, many are now eating more simply than ever, particularly during the week. So let's go mental for lentils, they tick lots of boxes.

Pesto, Pine Nut and Parmesan Muffins, and my Basil Pesto Recipes

 

Here's a simple little muffin recipe for you, for when you need a savoury addition at your morning or afternoon tea or even for breakfast. Bake them large or small, and you will be delighted with the result. Pesto, Pine nuts and Parmesan are perfect ingredients in so many savoury goods.

Tuscan Chicken, Cheese and Broccoli Bake (Low carb)

This is comfort food without the extra calories, which my friends is my kind of meal at the moment in the lead up to Christmas. Leftovers are even more delicious the following day for lunch or served for dinner. You could almost think you are eating a lasagna but not missing the pasta because of the extra protein, vegetables, herbs and cheese. It's very tasty.

Ligurian pasta with pesto, new potatoes, and green beans

 

Destination Liguria, in northwestern Italy, where it's Mediterranean coastline is known as the Italian Riviera. Two of Liguria's most famous specialities are pesto and focaccia, which can be served plain, or with tasty variations like onion, olives, sage, and cheese etc. The local's use of fresh herbs and delicious seafood is also well reputed and reflects it's coastal geography.

Pasta Liguria with pesto, new potatoes, and green beans

With this recipe we are travelling in the kitchen to Liguria, in northwestern Italy, where it's Mediterranean coastline is known as the Italian Riviera. Liguria's most famous specialities are pesto and focaccia, which can be served plain, or with tasty variations like onion, olives, sage, cheese etc.

In My Kitchen, November 2020

Beautiful Jacaranda trees growing in our street

It's a lovely time of year with the Jacaranda trees in flower and my Dancing Lady orchids (oncidiums) producing beautiful golden sprays of colour this year. I feel as if I have lost a week though, as I started this post a week ago and then we received news that our brother-in-law was in intensive care in Rockhampton which is in Central Queensland, following surgery. Jim is blind and has been for over 20years, he is incredibly independent though. But his blindness adds extra complications to any health issues. Knowing that Jim's children and family in NSW wouldn't be able to visit him because of Covid restrictions and other family couldn't get there until Monday we drove down, after all Mackay is only 350 kms up the road from Rky. Rockhampton is my hometown, so it is always nice to go back,  perhaps under better circumstances though. We drove home yesterday after 6 days of visiting the hospital, and Jim seems to be doing quite well in rehab at the Mater Hospital now so I'm so pleased we could be there for him. The staff at the Rockhampton Base Hospital provided excellent care for him. 

Dancing Lady orchids

A highlight of the trip though was that Mr. HRK and I found a grove of Common mango trees where we took our dog Locky for a walk each day, still green but ready for picking, and perfect for making mango chutney. So my handyman husband repaired Jim's specially designed mango picker,  and on Wednesday we picked two bags of mangoes. We needed enough mangoes for 2 kilos of mango flesh. Jim also has a thriving Bowen Mango tree in his backyard, so we picked all of those for him and brought back just a dozen for ourselves. Common mangoes don't have the lovely pink blush around the stalk that the Bowen mangoes have, as they ripen then turn yellow.

A bowl of Green Common Mangoes ready for cooking.

It's interesting though that the mangoes in Mackay are still not ready for harvesting despite being further North, Rky has surprisingly had more rain than us. So today in my kitchen can you guess what I've been doing all morning, yes my friends, making mango chutney as some of the mangoes have started to ripen already with the warmer weather around. The mangoes need to be very green and hard for making chutney or the flesh will just break down too easily in the chutney. The result, 13 jars of spicy and sweet mango chutney which I am very pleased with. Mr. HRK peeled them while I sliced them up, and then I cooked up the mixture in a large pot, outside in our patio BBQ area on the gas burner, our outdoor kitchen. It took 45 minutes. So it's Mango Madness here in the North, or anywhere where there are mangoes growing, heralding the beginning of the Christmas preparations. Traditionally mango chutney is eaten with ham on Christmas. Day. However we eat it all year round. 

Click here for my Mango Chutney recipe on a previous post.

All the ingredients are in the pot, ready for cooking

My latest batch of mango chutney still to be labelled and stored.

Just before we left for Rockhampton, I made this delicious Chicken, Tomato and Basil traybake using up some fresh tomatoes given to me by my wonderful friend Irena. It was delicious.  I'll put up the recipe one day soon. 

My sweet Italian basil is growing beautifully this year, so I made some pesto from it. It was so delicious, the best pesto I have ever made, mainly because I think the basil was so fresh. The pesto is all gone, so I need to make some more. However here is the recipe I used from River Cottage Veg everyday, written by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. A great recipe book and never far from my kitchen.

Hey presto we have delicious basil pesto

Basil Pesto ingredients:

50 g pine nuts or walnuts, lightly toasted (I used pine nuts this time)

A large bunch of basil (about 30 g), leaves only

1 large bunch of parsley (about 30 g), leaves only

A few mint leaves (optional)

1 garlic clove, chopped

50 g Parmesan, hard goats cheese, or other well flavoured hard cheese, finely grated

 (I use parmesan)

 Finely grated zest of 1/2 lemon

100-150 ml extra virgin olive oil

A good squeeze of lemon juice

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

To Serve:

Extra virgin olive oil, to trickle over the top (optional)

Method:

Put the toasted pine nuts into the food processor along with the herbs, garlic, grated cheese and lemon zest. Blitz to a paste, then, with the motor running, slowly pour in the olive oil until you have a thick, sloppy puree. Scrape the pesto into a bowl and season with salt, pepper and a good squeeze of lemon juice. This will keep in the refrigerator for a few days. Sometimes I make a  pasta dish using this pesto with new potatoes, and green beans. Delicious!

Below is my Brassia Rex orchid in flower at this time of year. It's quite an un usual flower.

Nasturtiums from a friend make a lovely posy in a vase in the kitchen. This is the last of them now unfortunately that the Summer heat takes it's toll on some garden plants.

 I started sewing a couple of weeks ago, and made this book bag for Hugo our grandson, and sent it in a Christmas parcel over to the Falkland Islands with a book inside of course. I really enjoy sewing once I get started. This is an easy project and very useful. I'll be making some more for the children in the future.

I've written this post as part of the In My Kitchen series hosted by Sherrys Pickings. It is worthwhile dropping over to her posts if you haven't already

We are so fortunate here in Queensland that life continues pretty much as normal now, however we are aware that the the Covid pandemic situation overseas is still very concerning. You are all in our thoughts and prayers and one of the biggest global challenges now is to produce and distribute a  reliable vaccine that immunises populations across the world against this dreadful virus.

That's all folks, have a safe weekend. My next project today, soaking the fruit and nuts for this years Christmas cake.

Warm wishes,

Pauline.

Pesto, Zucchini and Capsicum Lentils for Brunch

Let me share with you the easiest and healthiest lentil and vegetable meal we enjoyed for brunch yesterday. We are mainly cooking just for ourselves now as are most people.

Summer Basil Pesto from home grown Basil in the Tropics

It's the season to be jolly and also the season to grow Basil and make Pesto before the serious and fun Christmas cooking starts. It is difficult in the tropical heat to grow much else, except perhaps other sun loving Mediterranean type herbs, chillies, small tomatoes and eggplant.

Potatoes and Deconstructed Pesto

Basil is such a great herb to have growing in the garden and fortunately I have heaps of it. At this time of year, it is challenging to maintain a vegetable garden in the hot tropics, so I think that herbs are the way to go. 

It's time for Basil Pesto

Basil pesto

Jump to Basil Pesto recipe

Preparing to make pesto

An early trip to the farmer's market this morning, despite the rain, and I now a have a whole, fragrant and  luscious sweet basil plant for three dollars. The basil plants in my garden aren't at the stage where I can harvest enough leaves for pesto. Probably because I am drawing on them regularly for other dishes, and they are mostly self seeded, so they are still fairly immature plants. However, I have plenty of flat leaf parsley growing so perhaps a pesto combo of basil and parsley could also be fun.

So basil and homemade pizza are on the menu this weekend. Along with sweet corn, sugar bananas, red paw paw and rough leaf pineapple, also sourced at the markets and grown locally. Mr. HRK loves the fresh pineapple and paw paw.

Jump to Basil Pesto recipe

Basil Pesto with Semi Sundried Tomatoes

With the festive season upon us, Christmas drinks accompanied by fine cheeses and other accompaniments will be more popular than ever. A tasty and healthy pesto adds variety to the standard cheese platter and is so easy and economical to make, especially if you grow your own herbs.  

Pesto, Pine Nut and Parmesan Muffins

It's Muffin Monday and muffins are on the menu for breakfast, savoury Pesto Pine Nut and Parmesan Muffins that is. These also suit the perfect brunch for friends who might just pop in. They are  delicious served with a selection of relishes and chutneys.