Chocolate-It's What's for Dinner

I could get lost in this bowl of pasta This recipe struck me as very interesting. However, I was a afraid that by using tomato paste it was going to be very heavy tasting. It was actually quite good and not too strong on the tomato paste. Tomato Pesto (Adapted from Cooking Pleasures) 1/4 c pine nuts 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 c olive oil 6oz tomato paste 1/4 c fresh parsley salt/pepper 1 1lb of pasta 1/4 c Parmesan cheese Cook pasta according to directions. In a small skillet, toast pine nuts. Remove from pan and place in food processor. Saute garlic in 1T of olive oil.  Place in food processor. Add tomato paste, parsley, salt and pepper. Pulse until smooth. Place pesto in a serving bowl. Reserve some pasta water. Add pasta to serving bowl and mix.  Add reserved pasta water until sauce is to desired consistency. Add Parmesan and stir through. It is a very quick recipe to pull together. All the work is done while the pasta is cooking.  The original r...

Now that the basil is starting to take off in the garden, it's pesto time. Pesto is such a great summer dish - the only bad part is boiling the pasta. It heats the kitchen up so much. But it's well worth it. You will notice that there really is not a strict recipe here (your are very observant). It's a matter of putting the ingredients together and tasting. It's spinach tortellini-the pesto didn't make the pasta THAT green! Pesto in a Flash 1/4 c pine nuts* 2 glove garlic - rough chop about 1 c fresh basil about 1/4 c fresh parsley about 1 c Parmesan or Romano cheese grated Olive Oil Salt/Pepper Lightly toast pine nuts in a skillet. Remove from pan and let cool. Place a small amount of olive oil in pan and cook garlic until fragrant. Remove from pan and let cool.  Place basil, parsley, pine, and pine nuts in food processor. Pulse until rough chopped.  Add cheese and pulse.  Pour about 1/4-1/2 c olive oil into food processor and pulse. Taste. Add salt...